


Rekindling

by Azulastalker



Category: Leverage, White Collar
Genre: Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2020-10-10 07:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 33,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azulastalker/pseuds/Azulastalker
Summary: Jimmy Ford is dead and it's up to Nate to tell his estranged sister, Elizabeth Ford. The two bond over their memories of their father and life as a Ford. Their desire to rekindle their sibling relationship leads to complications.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The same actor plays Nate's dad and Elizabeth's father. Thus this brain child was born. Enjoy!

Elizabeth Burke sat at the hotel bar, alternating between twisting her wine glass in front of her and taking a sip. She drummed her fingers against the table and sighed. She hadn't seen her brother in years and usually when he wanted to meet up it wasn't good.

"If you keep looking around like that, someone will think we're here doing something illegal." Elizabeth turned to see her brother, Nate, with a glass of scotch in his hand.

"Please tell me we're not doing something illegal then. Or you're not about to tell me of something illegal _you_ did." She smiled at him. "It's good to see you though."

They embraced and Nate sat down next to El.

"Now what's going on? You never want to meet up unless it's important." She studied his face. He looked down at his glass and took a swig.

"Dad's dead." He didn't meet her eyes.

El's breath caught in her throat. "You're joking, right? I mean Dad can't be-"

The look he gave her stopped her sentence in its tracks. Tears prickled the edges of her eyes.

"No." She breathed. She put her hand over her mouth.

"Victor Dubenich had him break into the US Patent office for a water filtration system patent. Told him he'd kill me if he didn't do it. When Dad went to make the drop, the whole warehouse was wired with explosives." Nate swirled the liquid in his glass. He looked up at his sister. "I got there just as it exploded."

"Oh Nate." El hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, are you okay? Where's Dubenich now? Can we stop him?"

She pulled away and stared into his face.

"Dubenich is dead." Nate held up his hand before she could protest. "I didn't kill him. I didn't touch him. I ruined his plans and then I let his own greed and anger take him down. But he won't hurt anyone else again."

"Well thank god. But . . . Dad . . . " She stared at her wine glass and took a drink.

"I wanted to let you know. And there wasn't much of a body left, but I'm having a wake at the old bar he used to do business in."

"McRory's? I haven't been there in years."

"I know." Nate smirked. "I've been doing business out of there recently myself. Really made me feel like Dad for a bit." Pause. "It's in 2 weeks. I'll give you the date and time as it gets closer."

"Peter will want to come. He can't go to a thieves' bar when it's crawling with thieves."

"Peter never liked Dad. I'm sure he won't mind missing it. I'm sure you can think of something to say to keep him away."

El looked at the table and nodded.

"Hey." Nate placed his hand on hers. "Dad would be proud of you. He was never upset that you wanted away from the family name. And I know he loved messing with Peter." They both chuckled. "But you were his daughter and he loved you."

"It's just so weird to think that he's dead. I mean, he was _Jimmy Ford. _No one could touch him."

"He died protecting me. And he protected you while he was alive. Made sure no one knew where you came from so you could live a normal life."

"I still remember him working out of that bar. He'd always bring you to show you the tricks and trades, but he never really wanted me there. I went once or twice and then he never took me again."

"He never took you because he could tell you didn't like it." El raised her eyebrow at him. "Dad and I got closer before he died. We talked about you."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he could tell you weren't into the whole loan shark/mob thing. You were smart but that's not where your passion was. Which is why he wasn't really mad when you said you wanted out of the Ford family. I mean, you had to know that a little bit. He helped you make Elizabeth Mitchell."

El nodded. "He did. And he played the part of Alan Mitchell well. Peter never suspected a thing."

"Yeah, but deep down you were always a Ford. You may not have the criminal tendencies like Dad and I have, but you made your way into the art world, like me at IYS, and now the event planning business. You have that Ford ability to plan things so well they always work out."

"Always gotta have a back-up plan." El smiled.

"Yeah, I use the same thing in my cons. Plan A usually doesn't work, so you gotta keep making them until one does."

"How is the whole Robin Hood thing going by the way?"

"It's going well. Helping a lot of people out."

"Well let me know if Peter can help with anything. I know you guys usually operate outside of the law, but someone has to arrest the bad guys and Peter's pretty good."

"That's the issue. Peter's really good, Liz. And I don't want to put you or your relationship in jeopardy if he figures out you're my sister and Jimmy Ford's daughter. You built a nice life. I don't want to ruin it." He took the last sip of his scotch and put the empty glass down. He stood up and put a few dollars on the bar. "I'll see you in two weeks. Take care, Liz."

"Take care, Nate." They hugged and parted ways.


	2. Chapter 2

Elizabeth Burke zipped up her suitcase on her and Peter's bed and set it down on the floor. She huffed with the exertion. She may have packed a bit too heavy.

"Oh honey, let me get that for you." Peter came into their bedroom and saw her struggle. He lifted her suitcase. "The cab's right outside. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"Yeah honey, I'll be fine. You and my dad always had issues and I just really want to be there for my mom. Don't worry about it." El leaned up and kissed him. Little did he know that her mother, Tina Mitchell, was actually just a grifter her dad knew and paid when he came to visit. Her real mother had died a long time ago. "I'll call you when I land in Illinois." Another lie. She hated lying to him, but it was for his own good.

"Thanks hon." He smiled at her and headed downstairs with the suitcase. El checked her purse one last time for her ticket to Boston and found it in a zippered pocket. Her fake ticket to Illinois was in the main pocket of her purse. She sighed and headed downstairs.

Peter was already out the door, talking to the cab driver, and putting her suitcase in the trunk. El said goodbye to Satchmo and headed out to the cab. Peter was just closing the trunk and opened the back door for her.

"Stay safe and give your mother my condolences for me." He kissed her. "Bye hon."

"Bye hon." She stepped into the cab and Peter closed the door behind her. She waved to him as the cab drove off.

"JFK airport, right?" The driver asked.

"Yes." El said. She pulled the fake ticket out of her purse and crumpled it up.

* * *

When El landed in Boston, she was only a little surprised to see a man holding up a sign that said "Liz Ford" on it. She didn't question it though and made her way over.

"Elizabeth Ford?" He asked. He had a gruff voice and he didn't smile.

"That's me."

"Your brother sent me to pick you up. The wake's in a few hours. I'm going to drive you to his apartment, which is right above the bar, and you can unpack there."

"Of course it's above the bar. Thank you very much Mister...?"

"Spencer. Eliot Spencer." He gave her a soft smile and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Eliot Spencer." The two started walking out of the airport to his car. "I'm assuming you work with Nate?"

"Yeah I do. He keeps it interesting." Eliot opened the door for El and took her suitcase.

"That doesn't surprise me." She smirked at Eliot and he smirked back.

Once her suitcase was in the trunk, Eliot got in and drove away towards McRory's bar.

"I told my husband I would call him when I landed. You don't mind, do you?"

"Actually I would probably wait." Eliot looked at her through the rearview mirror. "It takes 2 hours to get to Illinois from New York and only an hour and 20 to Boston. Your husband may get suspicious why your flight got in so early."

"Oh right." El put her phone back in her purse. "I'm just not used to lying to him."

"Well hopefully you'll only have to do it for the next couple of days. Then your life can go back to normal."

El nodded and turned her gaze out the window. Boston scenery passed by. It brought up some old memories. Her and Nate growing up with their father the loan shark. Jimmy Ford. The toughest guy you'd ever meet and the guy you'd never want to cross. Blown up in some warehouse and couldn't even be given a proper funeral. She'd wanted out of this life, but she thought her father deserved a little more dignity when he passed.

"Why did Dubenich blow up the warehouse with my father in it?" She turned back towards Eliot. "Nate said Dubenich had threatened Dad to steal a patent for him, but never said why Dubenich killed him. I'm assuming Dad got the patent. He was Jimmy Ford."

Eliot focused on the road for a few beats before answering. "Dubenich killed him to hurt Nate. Nate locked him away for 3 years. He wanted his revenge."

"And he got the patent in the deal too." They met each other's eyes in the rearview mirror. "And Nate said Dubenich was dead?"

"Yup. Man practically threw himself off a dam."

"Nate said he didn't touch him, but Nate's never been one for a fight. He uses his mind." Eliot was the one to break her gaze and focus on the road again. "I'm right, aren't I? Nate didn't personally kill Dubenich, but he walked away knowing he'd finish the job for him."

"Killing someone changes a person. I didn't want Nate to go through that. I talked him out of shooting Dubenich." Eliot met El's gaze again. "He's not a killer. He's the same brother you had before."

"The brother I had before was in insurance and not running a crew in Boston."

"Time makes people better." El rolled her eyes.

"Is he happy at least? Doing these jobs? Helping people?"

"As happy as he can be. I don't have to tell you that Nate's not the kind of guy to be all sunshine and rainbows. But he likes making a difference. Taking down some bad guys."

"In a different world, him and my husband would get along great."

"We're here."

Eliot parked the car in front of McRory's and El stared up at the place. It was smaller than she remembered. Older now. She stepped out of the car and Eliot grabbed her bag.

"Want to go inside or straight to Nate's apartment?" Eliot motioned down the stairs to the bar entrance.

"Inside. It's been a while."

El led the way inside and she stopped a few feet through the door. A wave of memories hit her. Her and Nate running between the tables while their dad handled business at the counter, scolding them to quiet down or he'd pop them on the side of the head. He never did, but he had to keep up appearances while he was working. El walked over to the counter and ran her fingers over the wood. Her dad had taught her how to play 3 card monte right here. He'd praised her for getting it when Nate couldn't seem to, no matter how many times he tried. Her eyes wandered to a table nearby. It had three notches on the side.

"Oh I wonder if it's still here." She walked over and laid down on the floor, looking up at the underside of the wooden table. It was covered in more gum than she remembered, but staring down at her was still a carving that said "Liz Ford Age 7" etched into the table. She reached up and ran her fingers over the words. A few tears came to her eyes.

"Find anything interesting?" El sat up to see Nate at the other end of the bar, looking at her.

"I forgot how much I missed this place." El sniffled.

"Come on. We'll talk about old times during the wake. Honor Dad a bit. I want you to come meet the rest of my crew." Nate gestured behind him to where El assumed there were stairs.

She stood up and her and Eliot followed Nate upstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Neal got in the car and handed Peter a cup of coffee. They were staking out a possible art thief. Peter took the cup and sighed a bit before taking a sip.

“Alright, what’s wrong? That’s the third time you’ve sighed since we’ve been in the car and you’re never upset about coffee.” Neal asked. He took a sip from his own cup.

Peter put the coffee in the cup holder next to him.

“It’s El. She’s in Illinois right now for her father’s funeral and she didn’t want me to come. Said she needed to console her mother and didn’t want me to feel out of place.”

“So El didn’t want you to come to the funeral of your father-in-law, who you never got along with, and is keeping you from making small talk with her grieving family who I’m guessing you’ve never met most of except for once at your wedding? How horrible.” Neal turned his eyes to the door of the apartment they were watching.

“It’s not that. I appreciate not having to console people I don’t really know.”

“And all of the crying women.”

Peter turned to Neal. “Oh it’d be my worst nightmare to be trapped with her crying aunts.” Then he huffed and turned back to the apartment. “It’s the fact that El’s father is dead and it’s obviously affecting her and she doesn’t want me there for support. I’m worried about her.”

“How’d she seem when she left? Holding back tears or like a woman on a mission?” Neal raised an eyebrow.

“Woman on a mission.” Peter leaned his forehead against his left hand, which was perched on the door of his car. “I’m worried she’s holding it all in for her mother’s sake. I’d rather her just cry it out with me instead of arranging the funeral of her father and pretending it doesn’t bother her.”

“Well she’s only gone for a few days, right?” Peter nodded. “If she seems like she’s handling it okay, then I say don’t worry about her. El would tell you if she wasn’t okay. You guys are a disgustingly honest couple.” Neal took a sip of his coffee and Peter snorted.

“Thanks, Neal.”

“No worries.”

Peter looked down at his phone. “Actually, she should be calling me soon to say that she’s landed.”

“And I’m sure everything will be fine when she calls.” Neal looked over at Peter. “Just try to relax. Everything’s fine.”

* * *

El stared at the criminals before her as Nate introduced them one by one to her.

“And Parker’s our residential thief. She can lift anything without you knowing it’s gone.” Parker narrowed her eyes at El.

“How many secret sisters do you have?” She asked.

“Only the one.”

“Was Jimmy Ford even your real father?”

“Yes, Parker.” She didn’t seem to believe him though and whispered something to Hardison.

“It’s so good to meet you.” Sophie stepped forward and shook El’s hand. “Nate has told us quite a bit about you and I totally understand why you’d want out of the family business. It’s been messy for us and we’re not even part of the family.”

El chuckled. “Thanks. I’m just glad Nate’s okay after everything that happened.”

“And your husband’s in the FBI and doesn’t have a clue. You could be a such a great grifter.” El took her hand from Sophie.

“My dad laid out most of the backstory, I just follow the script. And Peter doesn’t ask much about my family life because Jimmy always made him nervous.”

“Speaking of Peter. I think it’s about time you called him to say you’ve landed.” Eliot leaned forward and said to El.

Nate looked at his watch. “Yeah, I’d say you just picked up your bags and are in a taxi home right about now.”

“Right.” El nodded at Nate. “I’ll just go in the hall and call him.”

* * *

“You sure you’re okay, hon?” Peter asked. His gaze was on the apartment building in front of him, but his mind was on his wife.

_“I’m perfectly fine, Peter. I’m in a taxi now cause I don’t want my mom to come pick me up. She hasn’t stopped crying since she got the news and I don’t want her driving.”_

“Alright. Well you give me a call if you need anything. I’m here for you.”

_“Thanks hon. I’ll call you again some time tonight after I’ve had some time to settle in.”_

“Sounds good. I love you, hon.”

_“I love you too.”_

With that, Peter hung up the phone. He turned to Neal. “I still feel bad. She deserves to grieve her father.”

“Do you want to hop on the next flight over and take care of her crying mother and aunts?”

“She’s strong. She can handle it.” Peter answered quickly and took a sip of his coffee. Crying women made him uncomfortable. He never knew what to do.


	4. Chapter 4

El stood at the bar at McRory’s, a glass of red wine in her hand. Nate stood next to her with his usual scotch. She looked out at the crowd of people in the bar. The wake was in full swing now. A picture of their father sat high up behind the bar. Jimmy Ford looking down at them all.

“Your crew seems nice.” El looked at the rest of the Leverage crew mingling in the bar. Hardison was showing Parker something he was doing on his phone. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and her mouth all screwed up as she nodded and watched him. Sophie and Eliot were talking while he set out some more food dishes from the kitchen. “Oh, I told Eliot I’d help him with some of the food.” El set down her wine glass and took a step over. Nate grabbed her arm.

“You can relax, Liz. They got it.” Sophie and Eliot headed back into the kitchen, their conversation uninterrupted.

“I just feel like I should help.” El picked at her nail. “You guys have done so much.” She looked down and went quiet.

“I know. But Eliot’s been prepping for days. There’s nothing more to be done. Just relax and let whatever emotions you have come out. No one will mind if you cry the entire time.” Nate’s hand moved to her shoulder. He tried to look his sister in the eyes, but they stayed on the floor.

“I just feel like I’ve missed so much and I was so uninvolved in the wake that you guys don’t even need my help.” El looked up and gestured to the kitchen. “I’m an event planner for God’s sake, I could’ve helped with the food!”

“I know. I just thought it’d be better if you weren’t involved. Peter is smart and if you start planning for an event that’s happening in Boston, he may get a bit suspicious.” El finally met his eyes.

“Yeah, but I could’ve sent over a list of dishes or flower arrangements for you guys. Something, anything to help out.” El picked up her wine glass from the bar and took a drink.

“I’m sorry, Liz. I just tried to keep you at the same distance you’ve always been. I should’ve asked if you wanted to do more. Considering it is Dad’s wake.” Nate glanced up at his father’s photo. “Do you want to go see if Eliot needs any help?”

“Nate?” The siblings turned to see Maggie walking up to them. “I’m sorry.” She put her hand on Nate’s arm. “How are you doing?”

“Could be better.” Nate said. “Have you met Elizabeth? Elizabeth, Maggie. My ex-wife.”

“Oh.” El said. She’d known Nate had been married with a son and what had happened afterwards, but she hadn’t expected his ex-wife to be here. In his criminal lair. She put a smile on her face. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” The two shook hands. “How do you know Nate?”

Nate and El exchanged looks.

“Well you see she’s-” Nate began.

“I’m his sister. Elizabeth Ford.” Nate raised his eyebrow at El. She shot him a smile back.

“Nate never told me about you.” Maggie looked at Nate.

“I’m sure he didn’t tell you a lot about us and our father.” El said.

“Well that’s certainly true.” Maggie shot a look at Nate before returning her gaze to El.

“Can I get you a drink? Some wine?” El motioned to the bartender.

“Yes, please.”

Nate let the two talk. He took a sip of his drink and walked over to where Sophie was arranging some food dishes on a table.

“Maggie and Liz seem to be having a nice chat.” She said without looking up.

“Yeah.” He watched her push a plate of deviled eggs away from the table edge. “Liz told Maggie she was my sister.”

Sophie stopped and stood up fully. She put her hand on her hip. “Interesting. Seems like the estranged sister doesn’t want to be estranged anymore.”

“She’s never met Maggie or Sam. I’ve never met Peter. I always thought that’s how she wanted it.”

“The death of a loved one can make people see things in a new light. Maybe she’s realizing just how much she’s missed out on. A relationship with a sister-in-law and a nephew, for one.” Sophie studied Nate’s face. “Do you want a relationship like that with her? Meet her FBI husband? See her house in New York? Christmases and Thanksgivings?”

“I’ve looked into it.” Another drink of his scotch. “Her husband is very good though. Had the nickname ‘The Architect’ in Quantico because he never stopped digging. He’s very lawful good and I don’t think he’ll respond well to finding out his wife has been lying to him for 10 years and has a criminal mastermind brother.”

“You’re smart and you’re not so bad.” Sophie moved a piece of Nate’s hair back. “I’m sure you’ll be able to keep it from him until he learns that the cons you pull actually help people. And you’re not one of the criminals he chases that deserves to be put away.”

“And if I’m wrong Liz is estranged further and her marriage is in trouble.” Nate looked into Sophie’s eyes.

“And you want to be the protective older brother and keep her from harm.” Sophie took a step back and picked up an empty plate on the table. “Ask her and see what she wants. If she’s going around telling people she’s your sister, you may not have a choice in the matter.”

Sophie sent Nate a small smile and headed back into the kitchen with the plate. Nate sighed and looked back at his sister and ex-wife, who were laughing at some joke between them.


	5. Chapter 5

“I want to be part of your life again.” El approached Nate and crossed her arms. The wake was done and the two were upstairs in Nate’s apartment now. The picture of Jimmy Ford had been moved to above Nate’s kitchen. The rest of the Leverage quieted their conversation on the couch and turned to watch the siblings in the dining room.

“Yeah, I had a feeling you would.” Nate said. He motioned to the seat next to him and El sat down. “And you want me to be part of yours?”

“Yes. You had a wife and a son that I didn’t get to meet, Nate. I have a husband who I love very much who you haven’t met. I feel like we’re missing out on some big moments. Moments that don’t involve breaking the law.” El glanced at the team and then back to Nate. “It wouldn’t have hurt for me to meet your son. But it hurts now that I won’t ever get to. And I won’t ever get to see my father again either. You got to reconnect with him when I didn’t.”

“In my defense, reconnecting with our father  _ did  _ involve breaking the law.” El gave him a look. “But I understand what you’re saying. How do you think Peter will feel about it?”

“I think he’s going to be hurt. There’s no getting around that. But as long as we don’t mention any of your illegal activities for a while, I think he’s going to be okay. I mean, I was getting away from my loan shark father and that life. He can’t be too mad at me for keeping that from him.” El folded her arms on the table.

“Well you do know your husband.” Sophie stood up and walked over to the two. “If you think that’s a good idea, we can always head over and introduce ourselves.”

“Oh I didn’t mean all of you. No offense you guys.” El said to the other members of the team. Eliot and Hardison muttered a version of ‘No big deal’ and Parker shrugged her shoulders. “Cause I’d rather my husband not wonder why 4 criminals were hanging out with my brother. We can ease him into it once he’s accepted that I have a brother that I haven’t mentioned for the past 10 years.”

“Me and Nate then.” Sophie sat down across from El. Nate furrowed his eyebrows at her. “It’ll be easier to introduce your brother Nathan Ford and his girlfriend. Plus Nate will have back-up in case anything happens.”

“We can do a couples dinner at my house.” El said. “Maybe not introduce Nate as my brother right away, but just introduce Nate and see how it goes.”

“One step at a time.” Sophie smiled.

“One step at a time.” El smiled back.

Nate looked between the two and sighed. “Yeah, that works. Let’s go meet my brother-in-law.”

“I think you mean steal a brother-in-law.” Parker piped up from the couch. Eliot gave a noise of annoyance from next to her.

* * *

El lugged her suitcase through the front door of her house and Peter ran out from the kitchen.

“Here, let me help you with that.” He said. He gave her a kiss and took the luggage from her. “How was Illinois?”

“Oh you know, a lot of crying. I don’t think my mother stopped once.” El lied.

“How are you doing?” Peter put his hand on her arm.

“About as good as I can be.” She put her hand over his and gave him a smile. “It was just all so sudden I don’t know if I’ll be able to process it for a while.”

“Well I thought you would be exhausted from your trip, so I TIVO’d your favorite shows and I have a bottle of your favorite wine in the fridge. You can enjoy them with or without me, whichever you want.”

“Aw, thanks honey.” El kissed Peter. “I’d rather have you with me though. I missed you.”

“I missed you too honey.” Peter smiled down at his wife.

* * *

El put the last of the dinner dishes in the sink when she got a phone call. The caller ID told her it was Nate and she answered it facing the sink and away from Peter in the dining room.

“Hello?”

_ “Flight was good? Peter do alright without you?” _

El smiled at his concern. “Yes, everything was great.”

_ “So I was thinking next week. Me and Sophie come down and introduce ourselves to Peter.” _

“Next week works great.” She said a bit louder so Peter would hear. “I can’t wait to see you again. And you’re gonna love Peter.”

_ “Well let’s just hope he loves me. Take care, Liz. I’ll see you soon.” _

“See you soon.” El hung up and turned to face Peter. He was already intrigued and turned around.

“So what’s happening next week?” He asked.

“I saw an old friend at my father’s funeral and he and his girlfriend wanted to come say hi. I haven’t seen him in years and figured it was time you two met.” El lied. She smiled at him, hoping he didn’t see through it.

“How have I never met him? I thought I knew all your friends.”

“Well he’s been up in Illinois and he’s always been busy when we’ve been around. This was the first time I’ve seen him or even talked to him in years. So I figured I’d invite him and his girlfriend over for dinner? We can all sit and chat?” El tried to gauge Peter’s reaction.

“Yeah, sounds great hon.” Peter gave her a smile.

“Great. You’ll love them.” El smiled back. She walked over to Peter and gave him a kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! I've been a bit obsessed with making this fic as in character as possible. I hope this extra long chapter will make up for it!

El stirred the pan of vegetables again and set the wooden spoon down. She checked the meatloaf in the oven again and then moved on to the rice she was making. Peter came into the kitchen and put his hand on her shoulder. His other hand held a glass of red wine and he slowly pushed it into his wife’s hand.

“Calm down, hon. Here, have some wine. It’s going to be fine. I can’t wait to meet your friend and his girlfriend.” He said.

“I know. I think I’m just nervous.” El took a gulp of wine. “I just really want it to go well tonight. I knew him before I met you and I just hope you guys aren’t too different to not get along.”

“If he’s your friend, I don’t see how I could not like him.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Now I’m ordering you to take a 5 minute break before you faint from exhaustion.”

“Of course, hon. I just need to calm down a bit before they get here.” El said. She took a seat at their dining room table with her wine. Peter sat down next to her.

“So you haven’t told me their names yet. And how you know each other. I’d love to know a bit more about them before they arrive in . . . “ Peter checked his watch, “half an hour. Or at least be able to greet them at the door with the proper names.”

“Their names are Nate and Sophie. I don’t know too much about Sophie, but Nate and I go way back, like childhood way back. We lost touch as we got older and we only ever talk if something big happens in our lives. And in this case, it was the death of . . . my father.” El had almost said  _ our  _ father and was glad she caught herself. “And Nate was around so he came by to offer his condolences and we started talking again. And I realized how much I missed him. He’d gotten married and had a son and then his son died and he got divorced and I didn’t know any of that. And I felt like I’d missed out on so much of his life and he with mine. And I didn’t want to miss anything anymore. So I convinced him and his current girlfriend to come to New York for a bit so we can catch up and you can meet him. Which is also why I’m so nervous about you two getting along. I’d like him to be around more and that won’t really work if you two hate each other.”

“Oh honey,” Peter put his hand on El’s arm, “no wonder you’re going crazy trying to make sure dinner is perfect.”

“That reminds me, I should really check on the vegetables-” El went to stand up, but Peter pulled her back down.

“They can wait another minute or so. Honey, tonight is going to go perfect. You’re an amazing cook and there’s no way I wouldn’t like one of your friends. We’ll have dinner and talk and have a great time. Okay?” He put his hand on her cheek.

“Okay.” She leaned into it. His words did little to console her because they were all still lying about who Nate was and the fact that he was a criminal mastermind. But she did think that they would get along. “But now I have to check the vegetables.”

“Alright, you go do that. I’ll be here if you need a refill on your wine.” He said. El smiled back at him as she walked to the stove.

* * *

The doorbell rang and El went to answer it. Nate and Sophie stood there with a smile on their faces and a bottle of wine in Sophie’s hands. It felt weird to see them HERE, at her front door. Her estranged brother and his girlfriend/partner-in-crime. It gave her a strange mix of happiness and fear. She loved her brother, but she didn’t want Peter to try to arrest them.

“Hello!” The couple said. Nate stepped inside and kissed her sister on the cheek.

“Nice house.” Nate said, stepping further into the house and looking around. Peter walked up to him.

“Hi, I’m Peter, El’s husband.” He stuck his hand out, a courteous smile on his face.

“Nathan Ford.” They shook hands.

“Can I take your coat?”

“Oh of course.” Nate shrugged his coat off and gave it to Peter.

“Nate said you liked red, so I got you a 1947 Merlot.” Sophie stepped into the house and handed El the wine she was holding. “You may need it for tonight.” She whispered in her ear. Then she walked past El and introduced herself to Peter. He took her coat as well.

El closed the front door and turned to everyone.

“Well, dinner should be ready in about 10 minutes. Do you guys want drinks and we can chat for a bit while we wait?” She looked around at everyone.

They all gave various nods and words of agreement.

“Perfect. Nate, I know you like scotch, so I picked up a bottle. Sophie, what are you drinking?” El asked.

“Some red wine for me is fine. Whichever you think is best.” Sophie smiled at El.

“Sounds good. Honey, think you can help me grab the drinks?”

El and Peter got the drinks and everyone sat down in the living room. Nate and Sophie on the couch and El and Peter on the nearby chairs.

“So Nate, El tells me you two go way back.” Peter leaned forward with a beer in his hand.

“Oh yeah, as long as I can remember. And we were really close, but Liz never liked Illinois that much, so it was only a matter of time before she left for greener pastures.”

“I don’t know if I’d call New York City ‘greener pastures’.” El said. They laughed.

“So Liz tells me you’re an FBI agent?” Nate asked Peter. El tensed slightly and took a sip of her wine.

“Yup. White Collar division. Been there for over a decade and I love it.” Peter smiled.

“Peter has a CI too. Neal Caffrey. The two have the highest case closure rate in the division, I think.” El said.

“How’d you get Neal Caffrey to be your CI? That guy usually doesn’t stay in a country long enough.” Nate asked.

“I caught him. Twice.” Peter beamed with pride. “How do you know who Neal Caffrey is?”

“Oh, I used to work in insurance. IYS. I chased him through half of Europe for various forgeries.”

“No way.” Peter’s mouth split into a huge grin. “I was always sad I couldn’t chase him during his European adventures. Did you ever get close?”

“Oh, dozens of times. But Caffrey’s smart. He always had some escape plan.” Nate took a sip from his scotch.

“ _ Very _ annoying. I know. He’s the same working for the FBI too. I can’t tell you the number of schemes I’ve caught him in.”

El smiled watching her husband and brother bond. She looked at the clock then set down her wine and stood up.

“I need to go check on dinner, but please keep talking, you two.” She said.

Sophie stood up too. “Let me help you.”

* * *

Neal walked into his bedroom and saw Mozzie sitting at his dining table, drinking wine as usual. The half empty bottle was on the table in front of him.

“Did you hear? Nathan Ford and his crew are in town.” Mozzie said, swirling his glass in front of him.

Neal walked over to his dining table and sat down across from Mozzie.

“Nathan Ford? What’s he doing here?”

“Don’t know. But when he and his crew are in town, things go down. They run the meanest crew this side of the Atlantic.”

“Yeah, I hear they took down Damien Moreau. Conned a jury. Took on the Irish mob and beat a Steranko. The only question is: what kind of a job is a crew like that here for?” Neal stood up and grabbed a glass to pour himself some wine.

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good. Want me to ask around? See what I can find out? Maybe they need the help of a forger.” Mozzie took a sip from his wine.

Neal grabbed the bottle and filled his glass. “See what you can find out. But lay low. We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”

“On it. Should we tell the Suit? This seems like something up his alley.”

Neal took a drink from his wine. “Not yet. We don’t know what they’re after. Once we find out, we’ll see if it’s worth telling Peter. If anyone can stop them, it’s him.”

* * *

The two couples had just finished dinner and were laughing at a story Peter was telling.

“. . . and then the guy just  _ trips _ into the arms of Diana and she pins him to the ground and handcuffs him! It was the absolute worst getaway I’ve ever seen!” Peter finished. Everyone burst into laughter.

Once the laughter subsided, Nate spoke up.

“This dinner was fantastic, Liz. You really are a good cook.”

“Oh, thanks. I’m just glad you guys could come down. It’s been too long.” El said. She put her hand on Peter’s arm. “And I’m glad Peter likes you as much as I do.”

“Of course, honey. I don’t know what you were worried about. Especially once I found out we both chased Neal Caffrey. Any man capable of getting that close to catching him is a friend of mine.” Peter smiled, looking over at Nate. Nate smiled back.

“Well then here’s an idea.” Sophie spoke up. “Why doesn’t Nate come consult for you at work for a little bit?”

“Oh I don’t know . . . “ El trailed off. Nate also gave a noise of disagreement.

“Oh come on, Nate. You have to miss the old days of chasing bad guys at IYS and the White Collar division is the perfect way to do that. And Peter, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind having a consultant that comes without a tracking anklet.” Sophie said and looked between the two men. El bit her lip then took a sip from her wine. “We’re only here for a few more days anyway. This way you two can bond more. And El and I can go shopping and visit the local museums. We both have a taste for fine art.” She winked at El.

Nate looked at Sophie, then El, then finally Peter. “You know what? Sure. If you’ll have me. It’ll be nice to be back investigating forgeries and stolen art. And I promise I won’t take up too much space.”

“Well I think it’s a great idea.” Peter said. “And you’re right, Sophie, a new consultant would be a refreshing change of pace. Plus, you two can spend some time together too.” Peter put his arm around El’s shoulders. “I’ll talk to Hughes first thing tomorrow morning and see if we can’t get you a temporary consultant’s badge.”

* * *

Nate and Sophie opened the door to their hotel room and found Parker, Eliot, and Hardison already at home inside. Parker sat on the bed, flipping through the TV channels. Hardison had set up his laptop on the desk and was typing away in between swigs of orange soda. Eliot was reading a book in the corner.

“Hey, what’s going on here? I said just me and Sophie were going to New York.” Nate said, already annoyed.

“Yeah, but we wanted to know how it was going.” Parker said, her eyes not leaving the television.

“And we’re here in case it goes bad and you need to run from the FBI.” Eliot chimed in. He set his book down.

“Well we’re fine. And Sophie and I are able to get out of any trouble by ourselves.” Nate said.

“Does Peter know you’re El’s brother yet?” Hardison asked. He had turned his attention away from his laptop and towards Nate.

“Not yet.” Sophie answered. She took her shoes off and settled on the bed next to Parker. “But I texted El and said we’d keep quiet about it until she wanted us to tell him.”

Nate looked at his crowded hotel room and sighed. He took his suit jacket off.

“But Nate  _ is  _ going to work for the FBI for a bit with Peter. Some brotherly bonding.” Sophie smiled and looked over at Nate.

“What?!” “No way!” “Are you serious??” The three criminals all exclaimed in shock.

“It’s something I wish we’d  _ talked about  _ beforehand,” Nate gave a pointed look at Sophie, “but it’s going to be fine. As far as Peter knows, I’m an ex-IYS insurance investigator with an ex-wife and a dead son. He knows nothing about us or what I’ve really been doing since my IYS days.”

“He really doesn’t suspect a thing? I thought this guy was good, Nate.” Eliot said.

“I don’t think he suspects anything because El is the one who introduced us. They’ve been married for almost ten years. He’s going to trust the people she says are her friends. Plus, Nate’s not pulling a con.” Sophie piped up. “He’s not lying about his past. He’s telling Peter exactly who he is, just excluding the last 4 years. Peter doesn’t have a clue because he met Nate Ford: Reconnecting Brother-in-Law and not Nate Ford: Mastermind and Thief.”

“And we keep it that way for a while. I don’t want there to be any chance that this goes sideways.” Nate said. “Which means you  _ three _ ,” He looked pointedly at Eliot, Parker, and Hardison, “better be on your best behaviors. I better not be chasing you guys with the FBI. I’d like to keep this new relationship with my sister and not have to run back to Boston.”

“You know, me and Parker still have those FBI covers. If you need some new transfers to make sure everything goes smoothly.” Hardison said. Parker nodded.

“I don’t need back-up. This  _ isn’t _ a con. This is just me bonding with my brother-in-law.”

“Except he doesn’t know that you’re his brother-in-law, so it’s kind of like a con.” Parker piped up. “Like a little con because he knows everything else about you. Minus us.”

“We will tell him eventually that I’m his brother-in-law. We’re just feeling out the situation right now. Making sure his first move isn’t hostile.” Nate said.

Parker raised her eyebrow at him and Eliot and Hardison gave him looks of disbelief. Nate sighed and walked over to the mini bar and poured himself a drink.


	7. Chapter 7

Peter walked into the White Collar office with a smile on his face. Neal was already at his desk filling out case reports. Peter walked over to him and he looked up.

“How would you feel if I brought another consultant in for a few days?” Peter asked him.

Neal leaned back in his chair. “Another consultant? Peter, I thought what we had was special.”

“Haha very funny. An old friend of El’s is in town and he used to work for IYS. I think he could help us out. He used to chase you.” Peter motioned to Neal and Neal raised his eyebrows. “And, according to him, he got close a few times. Which means he’s smart and would be a big help to the team. We all had dinner last night and I really liked the guy. His girlfriend suggested he work with us for a few days. Have him relive the glory days. So of course I said I’d talk to Hughes about it.”

“He used to chase me? And work for IYS?” Neal clicked his pen as he thought. “What’s his name?”

“Nathan Ford.”

Neal’s pen clicking stopped. “You’re kidding.”

“So you remember him then?”

“Oh I remember him. And I remember when he got out of the game when his son died. What’s he been up to?” Neal slowly resumed his pen clicking.

“Not much. Looks like he got divorced and moved back home. Hasn’t really had a job since.” Peter said.

Neal nodded and smiled up at Peter. “I think he’d be a great addition to the team then. When does he start?”

“Well it’d only be temporary. He and his girlfriend are only in town for a few days. But I have to ask Hughes to approve it before he can come in. Hopefully he’ll start tomorrow.” Peter smiled and walked towards Hughes’ office.

Neal watched Peter walk away, very uneasy.

* * *

El and Sophie sat at a cafe table outside for lunch. Shopping bags sat at their feet. Sophie took a sip of her wine before addressing El.

“So how are you feeling about telling Peter about Nate? He really seemed to like him last night.”

El people-watched for a few moments before answering.

“I don’t know. It’s so anxiety-inducing to think about. A part of me is afraid Peter will be angry with me and he won’t be able to stop. I mean, it’s a big secret I kept from him for YEARS. And I’m not even entertaining the thought of telling him about your crew and what Nate has really been up to.” She looked over at Sophie.

“I think not telling Peter about the crew is a great idea. And telling him about who Nate is. . . well I think some more wine will help-” Sophie motioned to the glass in front of El, “-and I think that Peter will understand once he knows why you kept it from him. You’re Jimmy Ford’s daughter. You wanted out of that life and into a more normal one. Granted, your life can’t be very normal being married to an FBI agent, but he’ll understand why you ran and kept that part of yourself hidden. You just wanted to be Elizabeth and not Jimmy Ford’s daughter. A target on your back from any of his disgruntled business partners.”

El took a few sips of wine. “Yeah, I know. It’s just that Peter met Dad. He met him as Alan Mitchell. I lied to him to his face about so many things and he’s going to feel betrayed. No matter my intentions.”

“Well it’s your decision. Nate and I are here to help smooth things over if you need it. Don’t forget I  _ am  _ a grifter. I can talk your husband down if you need me to. But I think it is important that you tell Peter before we leave. Nate won’t say anything, but he does love being your protective older brother and I can just tell that he’s leaping at the chance to give Peter the ‘if you hurt her’ speech. Plus, the two got along so well last night I think it would be a crime to keep that bit of information from him. Imagine Peter’s joy upon learning that this great man he met is actually his brother-in-law.” Sophie locked eyes with El. “I think the positives will outweigh the negatives here.”

El sighed and looked at the bustling streets of New York for a minute or two. “You may be right. I’ll let you know when I want to do it, but I do think Peter should know before you two leave.”

“Good.” Sophie smiled at her. She raised her glass. “To one less secret in the Ford family.”

El smiled back and raised her own glass.

* * *

On his lunch break, Neal walked outside and called Mozzie.

_ “What’s up?” _

“Moz, we have a problem. Nathan Ford is going to be working with Peter at the FBI as a consultant. According to Peter, he’s only in town for a few days and he’s posing as an old friend of El’s. It doesn’t sound like his whole crew is here, but I don’t think we can rule that out.”

_ “Oh no, that is bad. What would he want in the FBI?” _

“It could be anything. But something that’s happening in the next few days. I’ll keep an ear out. But El is involved too and I don’t like that at all. Can you check on her a bit more frequently and make sure she’s okay? If she’s part of his con I want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”

_ “No problem. I’ll head over with lots of wine and conversation to keep Mrs. Suit busy.” _

“And ask around a bit. See if he’s been around, running recon or anything. And definitely let me know if you see his crew.”

_ “Got it. I’ll try my usual spots and see if anyone is spooked or has been handed a lot of cash recently.” _

“Thanks Moz.”

_ “Are you going to tell the Suit about him?” _

“Not yet. Peter seems to really like the guy and he thinks he’s just an ex-insurance investigator trying to relive the glory days. Plus, we don’t know what Ford is after yet. If we spook him, he’ll run and we won’t get anywhere. No, I want to be able to take him down when I tell Peter. He’s conning my friends and I don’t appreciate that.”

_ “Gotcha. I’ll let you know what I turn up. Be careful, Neal. This guy is capable of some really bad stuff.” _

“You too, Moz. I’ll talk to you later.” Then Neal hung up and walked back inside.

* * *

“Hey Diana.” Neal approached Diana working at her desk. She looked up. “I have a question for you.”

“What’s up?” She asked, moving her hands away from her computer.

“Do we have anything big coming in? Or a big case we just wrapped up?” He asked.

Diana immediately leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her. 

“And why are you asking?” She tilted her head.

“For the new consultant that may be coming in tomorrow. The guy chased me and used to work for IYS. He’s good and I figured we could lead with our best foot forward. Either give him a good case to work on or show him one we just closed. Keep him from getting bored.”

“Don’t try anything while he’s here, Caffrey.” Diana pointed her finger at him. “Peter plus an ex-IYS agent means you won’t get far.”

“I promise my intentions are good. I’m not looking to start trouble.” Neal put his hands up.

“Yeah, cause you’re never up to trouble.” Diana said. She paused and flipped through a few files on her desk. “I can tell you that there’s nothing big coming in. So I suggest you take a look through the open case files for something less exciting to impress him with.”

“So there is something big we just finished?” Neal raised an eyebrow.

Diana leaned forward. “Get back to work, Neal.”

Neal turned around and headed back to his desk, picking up the pile of open case files on his way. Diana stared after him and sighed.

* * *

Parker and Hardison were walking through Madison Square Park when someone brushed up against Parker and she felt him lift her wallet. She quickly spun around and grabbed him by the arm.

“Hey, that’s mine.” She said, her grip on his arm tight.

He turned around and Parker saw he was a short, balding man with glasses.

“My apologies. But I had to get your attention somehow.” He said.

Hardison stood behind Parker with his arms crossed as Mozzie handed Parker her wallet back.

“My name is Mozzie. I heard you and your crew were in town and I just wanted to get in on the action.” He said. “I mean, the things you guys have pulled. You’re legends and I could use a boost in my resume.”

“We’re not interested.” Hardision said. He grabbed Parker’s arm and started pulling her away.

“I could be of so much use to you though! I have a variety of useful skills and I happen to know a very good forger. Anything you guys need I can help you with.” Mozzie pleaded.

“He said no.” A voice behind him said and Mozzie turned around to see a very intimidating Eliot Spencer looking down at him.

“Of course. I mean no harm, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask. Please keep me in mind though.” Mozzie put his hands up and watched as Eliot passed him and the three walked away.

Mozzie sighed and watched them go. He had confirmation that the whole crew was here, and that wasn’t good.


	8. Chapter 8

Peter came home from work with the same grin on his face.

“Guess what, honey? Hughes approved Nate as a consultant! He can come in first thing tomorrow to pick up his badge and get started.” Peter took off his suit jacket and eagerly approached El in the kitchen. “Do you know what hotel they’re staying at? I wanna give him the good news in person.”

El stammered for a second. Sophie had told her that the rest of his crew was in town, making themselves comfy in his hotel room. “Um, I can just text him honey. Or I can give you his number and you can call him. I think he and Sophie had a long day exploring the city and they don’t feel up to company right now.”

“Ah I gotcha.” Peter’s smile lessened a bit. “I’ll just call him then. Tell him the good news over the phone.”

El pulled her phone out and scrolled to Nate’s contact. “So you’re excited to start working with him?”

“Oh El,” the smile was back on his face, “did you hear him last night? The things he’s done, the people he’s caught, how he caught them, how brilliant he is! It’s going to be amazing working with him, and having another person around who’s dealt with Caffrey.” Peter added offhandedly. “I mean, our closure rate may go up more and the FBI may want to keep him around too.” He joked.

Peter took the phone from El’s hands and punched Nate’s number into his own phone. He paused, staring at the phone for a second.

“617? That’s Boston. I thought Nate was from Illinois.” He looked up at his wife.

El felt her body go cold. “Yeah, I thought that was weird too. It may be an old number from his IYS days. You can ask him tomorrow if you’re that curious.”

Peter shook his head. “Nah, I’m sure you’re right. That man went all over the world when he was an insurance investigator.”

El breathed a small sigh of relief. Peter hit ‘call’ and put his phone to his ear.

“Nate! Guess what? My boss approved you as a consultant! You start tomorrow at 7 am. We have some paperwork to fill out before you can get on a case, but Hughes said he was glad to get another brilliant mind working for White Collar.” Peter spoke into the phone. He paused, listening to Nate’s response. “Yup! I’ll meet you right outside of the office then. 7 am sharp.” Another pause. “See ya then.”

Peter hung up and smiled at El. She forced a smile back at him.

* * *

Nate hung up his phone and turned to Sophie, who was organizing today’s purchases next to him.

“Looks like it’s showtime, big brother.” She said.

Nate nodded. His stomach in knots and fluttering with butterflies at the same time.

* * *

“So Nate’s crew  _ is _ in town.” Neal took a large swing from his glass of wine. “Which means they’re probably scoping out wherever they’re hitting while Nate works the FBI from the inside.”

“Most likely. I saw the three of them hanging out together, probably doing recon. I tried to follow, but they’re good. They evaded me two blocks away. Do you have any idea what they’re after? It has to be something the FBI is working on or something they have in evidence.” Mozzie asked.

“Still no idea. I’ve asked around, but it doesn’t seem anything big is going on or coming in. And of course that made Diana suspicious.” Neal sighed.

“Well let’s try to keep her suspicious of Nate and not you. Maybe try to expose his criminal past.” Mozzie took a sip from his own glass of wine. “I went by Mrs. Suit’s today to make sure she was alright. She seems fine and there are no bugs in the house. I asked her about Nate and she got all happy talking about him. He’s conning her real well, Neal. It doesn’t even seem like she has a clue he’s a criminal mastermind.”

“Well hopefully he’s done with her now. He’s in the FBI. It’s time to watch for his next move.” Neal said. He moved his glass around in his hand.

“And I’ll try to do some recon on his crew. See where they’re going and see where they’re staying. Plus, we still haven’t seen Sophie Devereaux.”

“I’m sure she’ll pop up sooner rather than later. Nate’s going to have her front and center for whatever they’re doing.” Neal said. He looked off into the distance and sighed. Why could nothing ever be easy?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting into actual cases now (both Leverage and FBI), so just a disclaimer that I haven't extensively researched everything, so some stuff may (and probably is) wrong. So please forgive me for those.
> 
> Also, since I'm stuck at home like most people during these times, my plan is to finish writing this fanfiction, then I'll be updating chapters weekly. This is also why there's been such a gap between the posting of chapters 8 and 9 (I was trying to finish it, but decided I would post this chapter to tide you over until I do). So hopefully soon you'll be getting Rekindling chapters weekly!

The next morning, Peter showed up early at Neal’s place. Neal was nursing a minor hangover from trying to drown his troubles in red wine, so he wasn’t as eager to see Peter.

“What are you doing here so early before work? I’m not even dressed yet.” Neal said, motioning to his pajama top and pants.

“Nate starts today. I told him I’d meet him in front of the office before work and I figured it’d be good for both of us to welcome him. Greet him with some familiar faces before he meets everyone else upstairs.” Peter said.

“Well as much as I admire your enthusiasm, how about I just meet you there?” Neal yawned.

“Come on!” Peter hit Neal playfully on the arm. “Aren’t you excited to work with such a guy?”

“I’m not overly excited to work with someone who used to chase me, no. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little nervous.” Neal said, rubbing his arm.

“Well you have nothing to worry about as long as you don’t steal anything while he’s around. He doesn’t work for IYS anymore so he won’t hunt you down for any past stolen artworks like Sara did.” Peter said.

“Still not totally loving this though.” Neal said, heading towards his closet. “I do need to have some coffee and breakfast after I get dressed though.”

“We’ll grab something from the coffee stand in front of the office.” Peter called after him. Neal groaned.

* * *

Nate tapped his foot while he stood in front of the FBI building. He was wearing a suit and was nervously adjusting his tie. This may be a bonding experience, but Nate still didn’t like the idea of being in an FBI building with his real name and no real exit if they figured out just who exactly he was. Peter was excited though and didn’t seem to suspect a thing. So Nate hoped it would just be a quick case or two and then back to Boston for him and his crew. With a renewed relationship with his sister.

“I hope we haven’t kept you waiting long.” Nate turned and saw Peter and Neal standing behind him, coffees in their hands.

“Oh not long at all. I got here a bit early anyway. First day jitters.” Nate smiled slightly. He turned to Neal. “Neal. Nice to see you again. I’m a bit disappointed that I wasn’t the one to catch you.”

Neal nodded at him. “Nate. I’m not disappointed you didn’t catch me. Only that Peter did.”

“And I am glad I caught you. Nate, we got you a coffee.” Peter handed him one of the cups. “I didn’t know how you took it, so we can add cream and sugar when we get inside.”

Nate took a sip. Pure black coffee. Good enough to keep him awake and on his toes. “No, this is fine. Plus I’m sure it’s better than what you have up there.”

Peter laughed. “You’re right. Well, let’s go inside, shall we?”

He started into the building. Neal and Nate followed, Neal slightly behind the other. He watched the back of Nate’s head, wondering what his plan was…

* * *

Once upstairs, Peter introduced Nate to the rest of his team.

“Diana, Jones, this is Nathan Ford. Former IYS investigator and Neal Caffrey chaser.” Peter motioned to Nate.

“Nice to meet you.” Diana stepped forward and shook his hand. “It’ll be nice to have someone else around who’s smart enough to deal with Caffrey.”

“Hey.” Neal interrupted, feigning offense. Diana rolled her eyes.

“Nice to meet you.” Jones said, stepping forward and also shaking Nate’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet both of you. Considering how good Peter is, I’m sure you guys are just as good.” Nate said.

“They’re the best.” Peter said. “Now what do you say we head up to my office? We can fill out your consultant paperwork and then I have a nice and juicy case waiting for us.” He smiled at Nate.

“Sounds good to me.” Nate said. The two men walked up the stairs to Peter’s office and Diana, Jones, and Neal dispersed and went to their own desks.

Neal sat down at his computer and pretended to fill out case reports while glancing at the two men every once in a while. Eventually he decided to search the FBI database for anything Nate and his crew would want to steal. He hadn’t found anything big coming in during his previous search, so maybe there was something that was leaving or being moved in the next few days that they wanted to hit. Neal typed in a few keywords and a list of results popped up on his screen.

“What are you up to?” Neal looked up and saw Diana looking at him suspiciously. He hurriedly closed the tab he was working in.

“Just checking something out. A possible lead to a case.” He said coolly.

She gave him a disbelieving look and walked away. She had a file in her hand and walked into Peter’s office.

* * *

“Here’s the case file you wanted.” Diana said and handed the file to Peter at his desk.

“Great. Thanks Diana.” He turned to Nate, who was sitting in a chair adjacent to his desk. “We usually get a bunch of mortgage fraud cases and such, but I searched through our pile and found one I think is more up your alley.”

“Neal’s been acting a bit strange recently.” Diana interjected. Peter looked up from the file in his hand.

“Strange how?”

“Asking about cases we’re working on and if any big evidence is coming into the bureau soon. And I just caught him looking up something in our database that he was very eager to close when I came around.”

Nate looked down at Neal then at Peter. “Neal’s not stupid enough to be that obivous. I mean, he’s up to something, but if he was going to steal something from the FBI he wouldn’t be broadcasting it.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Peter stroked his chin and looked down at Neal too. “It’s never nothing with Caffrey, but he’s not an idiot. Let’s keep an eye on him for now. Thanks for the heads up, Diana.” He looked at Diana and she nodded. “Let me know if he does anything else suspicious.”

“You got it, boss.” She said then she walked out of his office.

Peter turned to Nate. “Think you can help me out? I’m sure we’ll figure out what he’s up to with both of us working on it.”

“Of course.” Nate gave him a smile. “It’ll be nice to get back into ‘Catch Neal Caffrey’ mode again. Maybe this time I can help you catch him.”

* * *

Parker and Hardison were outside of an ice cream shop in Lower Manhattan. Parker was thoroughly enjoying a double chocolate cone and Hardison had a Rocky Road in his hand. Hardison went for another lick when he noticed a woman crying and clenching a paper at a bench across the street. He elbowed Parker lightly and pointed her out. She looked at the woman then at him and nodded and the pair headed over. Parker sat on the crying woman’s right and Hardison on her left.

“Are you okay? You look like you could use some help.” Hardison asked. He and Parker exchanged a look as the woman took a shaky breath in.

* * *

“So the Guggenheim Museum gave us a call and told us that one of their paintings had been stolen.” Peter clicked a button on his remote and the screen behind him changed to a picture of a painting. “Specifically Several Circles by Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky was considered the pioneer of abstract art. This particular piece of his is worth about $3 million.”

Peter, Nate, Neal, Diana, Jones, and a few other agents were in the conference room for the briefing on their latest case.

“Now from their and NYPD’s report, we know that when the museum opened at 10 am, a museum employee found it missing on a routine check. No alarms were tripped and there were no signs of forced entry. The thief was even nice enough to leave the alarm sensor that was originally on the painting taped to the wall where the painting used to be.” Peter continued. He clicked his remote again and the screen changed to an image of a tiny red sensor taped to a wall.

“The paintings at the Guggenheim have a state of the art sensor put on the back of them that triggers whenever the painting is moved, even slightly.” Diana said. “And the Guggenheim itself has enough alarms on its outside that the likelihood of someone not tripping any is very low.”

Peter smirked and pointed at Diana. “Exactly. So how did he get in?”

“He walked in.” Nate said. Everyone was silent and turned to look at him. He stood up. “May I?” He motioned to Peter as he stood. Peter nodded and sat down. Nate walked in front of the screen, pacing a little as he talked. “The Guggenheim museum focuses more on outside and artwork security. There are very little alarms inside the actual museum. It’s hard to get inside, but not move around once you’re in there.” Nate motioned to Peter, who after a few seconds, got the hint and clicked the remote. The screen changed to a shot of the exterior of the museum. “The thief probably walked in with the rest of the guests some time before closing and then hid once the museum was closed. Then he walked right out in the morning when they opened it back up.”

Peter nodded. “I’m impressed.”

Neal raised his hand. “Yes, Neal?” Nate asked.

“Yes, how did the thief steal the painting then?” He asked, tilting his head with his usual cockiness. “He still needed to bypass the painting’s alarm after he was inside.”

“My guess? He located the sensor on the painting, painstakingly removed it without triggering it, and then re-taped it to the wall. It’s very difficult, but not impossible. Especially if he knew the alarms. Then he cut the painting out of the frame and rolled it up for easy transportation out. I’m sure we’ll find the painting frame stashed wherever he was hiding overnight. Of course we’ll need to go to the museum to confirm my theory.”

After a pause, Peter spoke up. “Well, I guess my case wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be for you.” He smirked at Nate. “What do you say we head over to the Guggenheim then? Neal, why don’t you come along too?”

“Boss, do you mind if I tag along also?” Diana raised her hand. “His first day on the job and he basically solved the case in half an hour. I’d like to see if he’s right.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jones piped up.

“Just because he figured out how it was stolen doesn’t mean the case is solved. We still have to catch the thief.” Neal said a bit bitterly. Peter ignored him.

“Sure, the more the merrier.” He said. Then he gathered the file in front of him and stood up.

* * *

Parker and Hardison were finishing their ice creams across the street from a three story mansion. Parker finished her cone and looked through the binoculars around her neck. She searched the various windows on the building.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Eliot angrily stomped over carrying reusable tote bags full of food. “I was at the farmer’s market buying some really nice papayas-”

Parker shoved the binoculars in front of him and took a fresh apple out of a bag and bit into it. Eliot took the binoculars from her and looked through them.

“So what? It’s a New York City mansion.”

“Amelia Clarke’s father died recently.” Hardison began, “He told her that he left her everything in his will so she wouldn’t have to worry. He was a big art dealer and she was just a teacher, never asked him for much. She was going to use the money to buy all new supplies for her school. She works in a low income area and they could use it. Then dad dies and the will comes out. Turns out Frank Clarke’s business partner gets everything. AND my favorite part-”

“Frank died from cancer a few months after being diagnosed. Lung cancer and he never smoked a day in his life.” Parker finished. She swallowed the bite of apple in her mouth.

“Why do you have to do that . . . ?” Hardison said softly.

“So the guy forged the will and killed the dad so he could get everything. Easy, we just have to find the original will and prove he murdered the dad. You two could’ve done that!” Eliot growled. He handed the binoculars back to Parker and grabbed back his apple. “The farmer’s market closes in an hour! You made me rush out!”

“Come on, man. Do you really want to be spending your time buying fresh fruit at farmer’s markets or do you want to work a case? We’re stuck doing nothing in this big city while Nate plays house. We might as well help someone.” Hardison said. Parker nodded beside him.

Eliot sighed. “Fine. Tell me what else you know about him.”

A block and a half away, Mozzie sat on a bench with a wig and sunglasses on, spying on the trio through a hole in his newspaper.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty much done writing this fanfiction now, so expect weekly updates!

Nate, Peter, Neal, Diana, and Jones all went to the Guggenheim museum. They found the museum curator and Peter introduced them.

“Mr. Anderson, one of our consultants has a theory on how the thief stole your painting.” Peter said.

“Yes, and we’re going to need to view your security footage from last night. I’m guessing there’s a camera in the hallway where Several Circles was?” Nate said.

“Well of course, and I would show you the tapes from last night, but sadly they were all wiped after 6 pm.” Mr. Anderson said.

“And when do you close?” Nate asked.

“5:30.”

“And who locks up?”

“Well, I do.” The curator put his hand on his jacket.

“And you do a last sweep of the museum before you lock up?” Nate motioned to the museum around them.

“Various employees do. The museum is too big for just one person to handle.”

“So it’s possible for an employee to miss something? In this big museum?”

The curator looked from Nate to Peter. “I suppose.”

“Mr. Anderson, we think the thief hid in the museum overnight and left in the morning with the early customers.” Peter said. “Since no outside alarms were triggered.”

Neal had been letting his gaze wander while Nate was interrogating the curator, then spotted a security camera near the entrance.

“We think the thief walked into the museum as a customer, right?” Neal asked. When everyone turned to look at him, he pointed to the camera. “I’m guessing he had to pay for a ticket then.”

“And that would’ve been before 6 pm.” Nate said with a smile. “Mr. Anderson, can we see those security tapes now?”

* * *

“Nate’s going to kill you.” Sophie said to Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. The trio was currently researching everything they could about Frank Clarke and his business partner, Sean Harper, in Nate’s hotel room. Sophie and El were there to grab some things before going back out for a quick lunch.

“It’s a simple will dispute. What’s he going to do?” Hardison said.

“Kill you.” Sophie stated again. El chuckled beside her.

“You guys really never stop working wherever you go, do you? You’re always helping out the little guys.” El said. She smiled. “Makes me think Peter might be okay with meeting you after all.”

“You think your FBI husband is going to be okay with his brother-in-law having a crew of world-class criminals?” Eliot asked.

“I said ‘might’.” El said. “He may not like the world-class criminals part.”

“I think he’d like us if he got to know us.” Parker said. “Maybe he can meet us. I’d love to meet Nate’s secret brother-in-law.”

“Maybe the next time you guys come around. I still haven’t told Peter that Nate is my brother yet.” El said.

“So there’s going to be a next time?” Parker’s eyes lit up.

“I would like there to be.” El said. “Maybe next time you guys can come see our house.”

“Oh, I have and it’s great. I love the Paragon X500 wall safe you guys have in your bedroom.” Parker said, her eyes lighting up more.

El’s eyes widened and she looked at Sophie. Sophie shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it.” She put her hand on El’s arm. Then she turned to the trio. “Be careful. The last thing we need is for you three to blow Nate’s cover.”

“Says the person who used her famous, world-class grifter alias to introduce herself to Peter.” Hardison said, lifting his eyebrows at Sophie.

“How did he not know who you were immediately?” Eliot asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Because I didn’t come to America often. I mostly stayed in Europe. If I ever popped up on the FBI’s radar, it was usually under an alias I used maybe twice.” Sophie said. “So there was a very good chance that Peter had never heard of me.”

“So you got lucky.” Eliot said.

“We must be going.” Sophie ignored him. “Good luck with your will dispute. Try to solve it quickly and without the attention of the FBI.” She ushered El out of the hotel room.

“Let’s go steal a will.” Parker said, looking between Hardison and Eliot with a smile on her face.

* * *

“Right there.” Nate pointed to the image of a man with a backpack wearing cargo pants. “He entered the museum at 4:45. That’s 45 minutes to scope out the painting one last time and find a hiding spot.”

“You think he hid his supplies in his backpack?” Peter asked.

“Impossible.” The curator said. “We always check bags before customers enter. There’s no way he could have entered with anything to remove the painting.”

“Not in his backpack.” Nate turned to Neal, Diana, and Jones behind them. “But where else could he have hidden his tools?”

“Cargo pants.” Diana nodded at the computer screen. “Lots of pockets to hide things.”

“And loose enough to hide stuff underneath them too.” Jones added.

Nate pointed at them. “Correct. Museums can’t check your pants pockets. Only send you through a metal detector. Which I’ve noticed you don’t have, Mr. Anderson.” Mr. Anderson looked away embarrassed.

“He probably had at most a change of clothes, tape, and some chewing gum in his backpack.” Neal added. The agents gave him a look. “Chewing gum is for-”

“Blocking the cameras’ views or removing the alarm on the painting.” Nate finished. “I’d say the latter because he wiped the security tapes after.”

“Chewing gum means DNA.” Peter said. He looked at Jones and Diana.

“I’ll search the alarm and wall and see if he left any. Send it down to forensics.” Diana said before moving towards the door.

“I’ll check the cameras too. Just in case. Maybe he didn’t have the idea to wipe the tapes until later.” Jones said and followed her out.

“Check the trash cans too. It’s possible he threw his used gum out afterwards.” Nate called after them. Diana nodded at him.

“A photo and possibly some DNA, not bad for your first day on a case.” Peter said, smiling at Nate.

“When you work for IYS as long as I did, these things just keep getting easier.” Nate shrugged.

Peter gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Well I’m impressed. The next thing I want to do though is try to get a shot of our thief coming out of the museum in the morning. Confirm Cargo Pants is our guy.”

Peter nodded to a security worker sitting in front of the screens. He punched some keys and the cameras shot forward to the next morning.

“Cameras at 9:30, when Mr. Anderson arrives.” The security worker said. He started scrubbing forward until customers started showing up. After a few minutes, Peter stopped him.

“Wait, there.” He pointed to one of the monitors. “This guy is leaving while everyone else is coming in.”

“And it looks like he forgot to hide from the camera.” Neal said.

“And he matches Cargo Pants from the night before.” Nate said.

“Except in new clothes.” Neal added.

“And the same backpack.” Peter jabbed at the backpack on screen. “We got our guy. Now to find out who he is.”

“Hopefully Diana and Jones find something he left behind. Something to tell us who he is and link him to the theft.” Nate said. “I think our next step should be trying to figure out where he hid overnight.”

“Good idea.” Peter looked over at Nate. “We should follow him on the security cameras from when he first enters the museum until he disappears.”

Peter motioned to the security worker in front of the screens. He reset the cameras to the night before and then started scrolling forward through the footage. Peter, Neal, and Nate watched the image of the man in the cargo pants wander from screen to screen, until finally they couldn’t find him.

“Go back.” Peter said. They watched him disappear on a screen and not reappear. “Hallway L, what’s near there?”

“There’s a maintenance closet nearby. We usually have a camera on it, but it went out last Thursday and we’ve been trying to get it fixed since.” Mr. Anderson said. “It hasn’t been a high priority because it’s not overlooking any of the paintings.”

“Sounds like where our thief hid.” Nate said.

“He took out that security camera beforehand so he didn’t have to worry about wiping that footage when he left in the morning.” Neal added. Nate looked at him and nodded.

“Let’s go check it out then.” Peter said.

* * *

Hardison stood in front of a makeshift projector he built while Parker and Eliot sat on Nate’s bed in front of him. Photos of Sean Harper and Frank Clarke were projected onto the hotel wall.

“Now, Sean Harper uses a mansion in Lower Manhattan as his main office. Provided he hasn’t destroyed Frank’s original will, my guess is it’s somewhere in there.” Hardison said. He clicked his remote and blueprints of Harper’s office came up.

Parker raised her hand. Hardison pointed at her. “What do we do if he has destroyed the will?”

“Find evidence that he killed Frank Clarke, then con him out of all his money.” Hardison smirked. Parker smiled back.

“After our recon today, I say the easiest way into his office is through the window.” Hardison said. “Parker, that’s you. Eliot can keep watch on the street and make sure Harper doesn’t come back while you’re inside. We see what he has hidden there and move onto his house if we don’t find anything. I’ll give you a thumbdrive too to plug into his computer so we can grab what he has there.”

“Short and simple. I’m glad you learned from the last time you ran a con.” Eliot said. Parker nodded next to him.

“Oh, that was just Phase 1.” Hardison said. He clicked his remote again and a long outline of people and details started scrolling across the screen.

“No!” Parker yelled.

“Dammit Hardison!” Eliot said.

* * *

Guggenheim security opened the maintenance closet near Hallway L. Nate, Peter, and Neal stepped inside and took a look around.

“He’d need somewhere a little comfortable to spend the night. He’s not going to curl up on the floor for 14 hours.” Neal said.

“He might if he brought a sleeping bag too.” Nate said, looking at Neal. He pointed to a vent over their heads. “But he does need a hiding spot for the cut painting frame.”

They grabbed a ladder nearby and Peter stood on it and looked inside.

“Well I’ll be.” He said. He easily popped open the vent. He grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and used it to grab something inside. He pulled out the cut frame of Several Circles.

“Looks like we found it.” Nate said.

Peter stepped down the ladder. “I’m gonna have Jones sweep the closet and vent for evidence and have forensics dust this for prints. If he was sloppy enough, we may be able to nail him.”

“I guess your case  _ was _ too easy for me.” Nate laughed. Peter smiled back at him.


	11. Chapter 11

“So how was work?” El asked as she set a salad bowl in the middle of the dining room table. Nate and Sophie were over for dinner again, this time to celebrate Nate’s first day as a consultant.

“Great.” Peter said, grabbing the salad tongs and dumping some salad on his plate. “Depending on the evidence we found at the museum, we may be able to make an arrest tomorrow.” He looked over at Nate. Nate nodded in return.

“Tomorrow? Wow, that was fast.” El said. She looked between the two men. “I guess Nate really helped out then.”

“Oh, he solved it like it was nothing.” Peter said, passing the salad bowl to Sophie. “Like he’d seen it a million times before.”

“Well I had a few IYS cases that were similar . . . ” Nate shrugged. 

“He is too modest.” Sophie said, passing the salad bowl to him. “Nate is brilliant. Perhaps one of the smartest men I’ve met.”

“Well then we definitely have to do this again. The next time you guys come up.” Peter said with a smile.

“Is that an invitation back?” Sophie looked at Nate then across the table at El and Peter.

“I don’t see why not. Nate’s great, you’re great. He can help with Caffrey and my cases, you and El can talk art. I’ve had a great time so far. I’d love it if you two came to New York again.” Peter said. He looked to El for confirmation.

El returned his look and smiled. “Yeah, I would like that too.” She turned to Nate and Sophie.

“Then we’ll have to come up again. Hopefully not after a funeral.” Nate said. El nodded.

“Yes, next time will be a fully happy occasion.” El said. A sad smile spread across her face.

Peter reached over and put his hand over hers. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. She smiled at him and then glanced at Nate.

“Well then I can’t wait for next time.” Sophie said with a smile.

* * *

“I guess we’ll be leaving then.” Nate said. He and Sophie put their coats on.

“It was a lovely dinner, Liz.” Sophie said. “Thanks again for having us.”

“Oh it was no problem.” El said.

“It was nice having you both again and I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Nate.” Peter said. He waved at the couple and started grabbing dishes from the table to put in the kitchen.

“Bright and early.” Nate shot back.

“Here, I’ll walk you both out. You don’t mind if I say a more private goodbye to them outside, do you hon?” El asked Peter.

“Not at all. I’ll put these in the dishwasher.” Peter motioned to the dishes in his hands.

“Great.” El said and followed the two out. She closed the front door behind her and turned to Nate. “I think the next time you two come over, when you close this case, I want to tell Peter. I want to tell him that you’re my brother.”

El smiled at Nate, slight tears in her eyes.

“I think that’s a great idea, Liz. I really like him.” Nate smiled back.

“He really likes you too.” El said.

She hugged her brother and took a shaky breath in. Nate hugged her back.

“I’m really glad I’m getting my brother back.” She said. Nate hugged her tighter.

The siblings let go and El wiped her eyes.

“Well, hopefully I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She said.

“We’ll bring a bottle of wine to celebrate.” Sophie said, giving her a small smile.

“Goodnight, Liz.” Nate said.

“Goodnight, Nate.” She said back.

* * *

Nate came back to his hotel room in a relatively good mood. That was, until he saw that Parker, Hardison, and Eliot had made half of his room their headquarters for a job.

“No.” He said simply. Nate took off his jacket and put it on a nearby chair. He saw a paper taped to the wall that said ‘The Double Pronged Monkey 2.0’ written in Hardison’s handwriting. He pointed to it. “Definitely no.”

“I TOLD you!” Eliot said immediately to Hardison.

“You gotta trust my process! This time it’ll be better!” Hardison shot back.

“We decided that Parker’s running this one!” Eliot said. Parker nodded furiously.

“I told you three Nate wouldn’t like this!” Sophie yelled over them as she took her own coat off.

“Of course I wouldn’t like it! You guys took a job while I’m working with the FBI? Are you out of your minds?” Nate said. He walked over to the minibar and poured himself a drink. “If the FBI gets even a WHIFF of this and it attracts Peter’s attention we are  _ done _ . Packing up and going back to Boston.”

“We couldn’t just do nothing!” Parker said. “She was crying on the sidewalk! We had to help her, Nate! You would’ve helped her.”

Nate sighed and took a drink. After a moment he spoke again, “Be careful, alright? Which definitely means no Double Monkey Prong 2.0 or whatever.”

“Double  _ Pronged Monkey _ -” Hardison began.

“Shut up!” Eliot hissed.

“You guys have to be the stealthiest crew while you’re running this.” Nate continued, talking over the two. “We have to be able to come back here, back to Liz. We can’t just burn a bunch of aliases and get out of town. Do you understand?”

The trio nodded.

“Which is why it’s perfect that the  _ thief _ is running this one.” Parker said pointedly to Hardison.

“Listen, just because my last con got a  _ little  _ out of hand-”

“A  _ little?! _ ” Eliot said.

“Alright, a lot. But I get to run the next one!” Hardison said.

Eliot and Parker gave various noises of disagreement. Sophie and Nate exchanged a tired look.


	12. Chapter 12

Nate showed up to the FBI building early the next morning and found himself stuck on the sidewalk, trying to muster up the courage to walk into the federal building. He was a thief. He’d been to prison. Even though this was for Liz, he was still having trouble just walking inside without Peter as a buffer. He was just about to swallow his fear and anxiety and make his way up those steps when he heard someone behind him.

“Waiting for me?” Nate turned around and saw Peter walk up with two coffees in hand.

“Part of me was. It feels weird walking in by myself.” Nate said. Peter offered him one of the coffees and he took it.

“I understand. My first week here I’d stand on the sidewalk for half an hour every morning, trying to make myself believe I was really here.” Peter said. The two stared wistfully at the building in front of them. “Well, I guess it’s time to go to work.”

Peter flashed Nate a smile and they walked inside.

* * *

Mozzie was pacing in Neal’s room while Neal was putting on his tie in front of the mirror.

“His crew is up to something, but I don’t know what. They were at a building in Lower Manhattan yesterday, casing out the place. Are you sure Nate wasn’t doing anything weird yesterday?” Mozzie said. The glass of wine in his hand was sloshing back and forth with his steps.

“I’m sure, Moz. He was acting like he was actually invested in this case.”

“And still no sign of Sophie Devereaux?”

“Not that I saw.”

“I don’t understand what his angle is then. Why is Nathan Ford in the FBI building if they’re stealing from the FBI?” Mozzie took a large sip of his wine after he finished speaking.

“Do you think he’s there to slow them down?” Neal asked. He looked back at Mozzie as he tightened his tie.

“Slow down their response time while his crew steals whatever they’re after.” Mozzie said, the lightbulb going off. “He’s not there to steal from the FBI, he’s there to stop the FBI. I bet he’ll mysteriously disappear right after the job is done.”

“Which means you have to stay on his crew. Let me know when they’re hitting their mark. Then I can alert Peter and we can hopefully stop them in time.” Neal grabbed his suit jacket.

“On it. I’ll stay near that building all day.” Mozzie said.

“Sounds good. Now I gotta go or I’ll be late.” Neal said as he left his room.

* * *

Peter and Nate walked into the White Collar office and Peter beelined it for Diana and Jones’ desks.

“Any news on what we collected at the museum?” Peter asked.

“Nothing on the frame. I think he knew we’d find it.” Diana said.

“However,” Jones leaned over, file in hand. “We did have some luck on the alarm sensor and the trash. Looks like he did use gum like Neal thought. We were able to find some DNA on the sensor and find the gum in the trash. DNA matched on both. Came up as a Nicholas Burton. Two priors. Both were burglary related.”

Peter took the file from Jones and flipped through it. “And he matches our guy on the security footage. Looks like we found our thief then. Let’s see if we can find out where he is and bring him in.”

“Speaking of Neal,” Nate said. He motioned to Neal’s empty desk. “Is he usually this late to work? It’s 15 after.”

“No, he isn’t.” Diana said, casting a glance to Peter.

“Jones, can you pull up his tracking data?” Peter said.

“Not a problem.” Jones typed a few things into his keyboard and the dot representing Neal popped up. “Looks like he’s just been at home. He’s on his way in now.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better. I’m gonna go check to see where he’s been the last 24 hours. You two work on finding Nick.” Peter said. He motioned to Nate and the two walked to his office.

* * *

Parker slowly lifted the window up just enough so she could squeeze through. She tumbled onto the floor, then popped right up, listening to any sounds that someone was coming. Upon hearing nothing, she walked further into the office. She found Sean Harper’s computer and plugged Hardison’s thumbdrive in.

“I’m downloading Harper’s computer now.” Parker whispered.

_ “Now look for a safe or anything where he’d hide Frank’s will.”  _ Hardison said in her earbud.

“The blueprints for his house say he doesn’t have anything in the walls, but I have a feeling he wouldn’t put a top secret safe on his blueprints.” Parker whispered back. “Especially if he’s hiding incriminating evidence in it.”

_ “You’re still all clear from out here.”  _ Eliot sat on a bench across the street with a coffee in his hand, slyly looking up and down the street.  _ “No sign of Sean Harper.” _

Parker ran her hands around the paintings hanging up in Harper’s office. On the third painting, one to the right of his desk, she felt a slight resistance to her fingers. She pulled the painting back and it swung open to reveal a wall safe.

“Bingo.”

* * *

“I heard you two found our thief.” Neal walked up to Peter and Nate in the office’s small kitchen area.

“Only people who are on time to work get to solve cases.” Peter took a sip of the coffee he just poured himself. He made a face and poured some more sugar in. He had stress-chugged his first coffee worrying about Neal, so he already needed a second.

“It took me a bit longer this morning to get my tie right.” Neal said, motioning to his tie.

“Yeah, sure.” Peter said. He took another sip of his coffee and this time seemed satisfied.

“All we need to do now is hope Nicholas Burton didn’t sell Several Circles already.” Nate said to Peter.

“I can talk to my street contacts. See if anyone’s sold a Kandinsky recently or is looking for a buyer.” Neal offered.

“Do that. Keep us updated. Hopefully we find Burton soon and he has it on him.” Peter said.

* * *

_ “I found the will. Oh, some money stacks too . . . ” _ Parker said over coms.

“Hey, just the will, Parker. Don’t get sidetracked. We don’t know when he’s coming back.” Eliot said.

Parker grumbled in response and he heard her close the wall safe. Eliot scanned the street again and his eyes stopped on a familiar short man down the block.

“Hold on, guys. We may have a problem.” He said.

_ “Is it Harper?”  _ Hardison asked.

“No.” Eliot responded. “It might be nothing, but I’m gonna go check it out.” He stood up and marched towards the short man, who saw him coming and hurried to get away. He made it a few steps before Eliot was right next to him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to offer my services again-” Mozzie began.

“Cut the crap.” Eliot stood and crossed his arms in front of him.

“I want in on whatever job you’re pulling. This is my city, just ask around.” Mozzie put up a confident front and gestured around the street. “I help out a lot of people around here and it’d be foolish of me to not to try to get in on whatever job you guys are pulling. You’re the meanest crew this side of the Atlantic. Whatever you’re after, it has to be good.”

Eliot wasn’t fazed. “Get outta here.”

“Excuse you, I deserve to be treated with a  _ little  _ more respect-”

Eliot grabbed Mozzie’s arm and pulled him close. “Stop following us and get the hell outta here. We’re not letting you in on this.”

He let him go and Mozzie stumbled back slightly, rubbing his arm.

“I think you bruised my arm. I’m very delicate, you know.” Mozzie said.

“If I catch you following us again, I’m gonna do more than bruise it.” Eliot growled.

Mozzie swallowed hard. “Message received. Good day, my good sir.” Then he scurried off.

_ “That was harsh.”  _ Hardison said.

“The last thing we need is a local thief sniffing around us. We don’t want anything or anyone to potentially lead the FBI to us. And we really don’t need Nate’s cover being blown because of us.” Eliot said.

_ “Let’s split up then and meet back at the hotel, just in case. I got the will. I just have to grab the thumbdrive and I’m out of here.”  _ Parker said.

* * *

Neal was filling out paperwork at his desk when his phone started ringing. He looked down and saw it was from Mozzie. He picked up.

“What’s going on, Moz?”

_ “We have a big, a HUGE problem, Neal!” _

“Slow down, what’s going on?”

_ “I went to stake out the mansion in Lower Manhattan and Nate’s crew was already hitting their mark! Whatever they came here for, they have, Neal!” _

“Do you have any idea what that is?” Neal looked up at Peter’s office, where Peter and Nate were chatting. Nate didn’t seem to be tense at all.

_ “No clue. Eliot Spencer spotted me before I could see whatever they took. But I have a very strong suspicion that Nate and his crew will be leaving town soon.” _

“Yeah, I think so too. Listen, Moz, I need you to go check up on Elizabeth then. We don’t know if she’s part of his escape plan at all.”

* * *

“What do you think I’m doing?” Mozzie said. He was walking up to Peter and El’s house now. “That was my first thought when I saw they were hitting the place. I’ll make sure Mrs. Suit stays safe.”

Mozzie hung up the phone as he opened the front door with his own, illegally acquired, key. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw El and Sophie Devereaux sitting down having tea at the dining table.

“Oh hey, Moz. This is Sophie. She’s here visiting with Nate.” El smiled and motioned towards Sophie. Sophie waved.

“Liz has told me so much about you.” She said with a smile.

Mozzie stood frozen to the spot, trying to force his mouth to make words.


	13. Chapter 13

Neal got a text from Mozzie:

_ SOPHIE DEVEREAUX WITH MRS SUIT _

_ TELL PETER ABOUT NATE NOW!! _

Neal tensed up immediately. Sophie Devereaux was nowhere to be found and then suddenly she shows up _ right after _ their crew hits their mark? _ And _ with Elizabeth? That wasn’t a coincidence and there was no way this was good. Neal looked over at Peter’s office. Peter and Nate were still all cool and casual. Neal hurriedly grabbed a file from his desk and walked up.

“Hey guys.” Neal said upon entering the room. “Any chance I can talk to Peter alone real quick? It’s about a case.” He glanced over at Nate.

“Nate can be here if you can. He’s a consultant, Neal, just like you.” Peter said. “So what is it?”

“It’s something I’d rather talk to just you about, Peter.” Neal said, trying very hard to keep the worry off his face.

Peter was about to object again, but Nate butt in.

“I can go down and get some coffee or something.” Nate stood up from his chair. “Obviously Neal wants to talk to you about something privately and I won’t get in the way of that.”

“Thanks, Nate. It’ll just take a second.” Neal flashed a grin at Nate and closed the door behind him.

“So what’s so important?” Peter asked. Neal watched Nate walk down the stairs and head towards their small kitchen area before turning towards Peter.

“Nate’s not who he says he is.” Neal blurted. “He’s a world-class criminal with a highly skilled crew and they just hit a mansion downtown. I don’t know what they took or why they want it, but Mozzie just confirmed that Nate’s right-hand woman is with Elizabeth right now and that’s not a good sign. I think he’s only here at the FBI so he can slow you guys down and you don’t catch his crew. Maybe have someone with Elizabeth in case they need leverage to get away.”

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed with each statement by Neal. He glanced down at Nate.

“Neal-” Peter started slowly.

“Look it up if you don’t believe me. Nathan Ford was arrested by Interpol two years ago. He bribed a prison warden to help him escape. I’m sure it’s all in the FBI’s files.” Neal motioned to Peter’s computer.

Peter was slow to bring his fingers over to the keys. After a few more seconds of hesitation, Peter started typing in Nate’s name. An arrest report from Interpol came up, just like Neal said. Peter’s heartbeat quickened.

“He’s an old friend of El’s-” Peter began.

“I think he’s either lying or using an old friendship they had to get to you. He’s not a good guy, Peter. The man rigged a presidential election in San Lorenzo a year ago.” Neal said. “And his grifter, Sophie Deveraux, is wanted for more art thefts than me. She’s conned plenty of people and she’s in your house right now conning El. Peter, I think El’s in danger.”

Peter tensed his jaw and brought his fist to his chin. He glanced down at Nate again.

“I had him over for dinner, Neal. Him and Sophie. Twice.” He grit out. “He’s been using me and my wife.” Peter looked up at Neal. “I can understand him coming after me, but he brought El into this, Neal. He’s crossed the line.”

“I don’t have any proof that he’s done anything illegal though. All I have is Mozzie’s word that his crew hit a mansion downtown.” Neal said.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t hold him. He’s a wanted fugitive.” Peter stood up. “I can arrest him and send him back to maximum security now if I want. Tell Mozzie to get El out of there and to let us know when she’s safe. It’s time we figure out what he’s here for.”

“On it.” Neal said, quickly pulling out his phone.

* * *

“I found more than just the will in his safe.” Parker said. On the table in front of her, Eliot, and Hardison was Frank Clarke’s original will and a small device. Eliot picked it up and examined it. It was a cube with a vent on one side and a hatch on the other.

“I know what this is.” He said. The other two looked at him curious. “This is how Harper killed Clarke. It’s similar to a humidifier but smaller and more concentrated. It’s for things like poisons and bioweapons. It disperses them in the air. Kills quickly. I’ve seen a few from my time in Pakistan.” Parker and Hardison raised an eyebrow. “Don’t ask.”

“This is how Harper gave him lung cancer.” Hardison mused. He took the device from Eliot.

“Be careful. We don’t know if it’s still filled with whatever poison he used.” Eliot warned.

“That poison rotted Frank Clarke’s lungs until he got cancer.” Parker said, staring sadly at the device. “All so Harper could get his money.”

“It’s not easy to get that. Harper has to have some contacts in the Middle East.” Eliot said.

“This man is serious business then. We need to take him down before he hurts Amelia. And he’ll definitely do that after she presents the real will.” Hardison said. He walked over to his laptop. “We’re going to have to put him away for a long time. I’m gonna check the files we got from his computer and see if there’s a way to nail him.”

* * *

Nate sipped the coffee in his hands. Upon seeing how tense Neal was when he came into Peter’s office and then seeing how tense Peter got and THEN seeing Peter start to steal the occasional glance down at him, Nate slipped an earbud out of his suit jacket pocket and put it in his ear.

“Guys,” He whispered into his coffee, “Peter and Neal are really tense right now. I think there’s a chance I’ve been blown. Finish up your will dispute and head over here. Something tells me I’m going to need an escape plan.” He took a sip of his coffee.

* * *

Eliot, Parker, and Hardison all exchanged looks with each other.

“Nate,” Hardison started, “things just got a lot more complicated over here. I don’t know if we can slip you out AND help out Amelia.”

_ “Well you’re going to need to figure it out or you’re going to have to leave her. Something tells me Peter’s going to make it a lot harder to break me out of prison this time around.” _ Nate replied.

“We’ll work it out.” Parker said. The other two looked at her. “We’ll work out a way to help you both.”

“Dammit Parker.” Eliot hissed.

* * *

Peter walked up to Diana and Jones with Neal.

“I’m gonna need you two to back me up really quick.” Peter said.

“Is everything okay, boss?” Diana asked, noticing how tense he was.

“Follow me.” He said shortly.

Peter walked over to where Nate was absentmindedly sipped on his coffee.

“Nate?” He said. Nate turned and gave him a slight smile.

“Yes, Peter?”

“I’m gonna need you to come with me.” Peter motioned to the hallway where they had their interrogation room.

“Is something wrong?” Nate said. The smile slowly dropped from his face.

“I know who you are.” Nate’s heart dropped at the words. “I know you’re an international criminal and I know you have one of your crew members with my wife. So, Nate, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

“I’m sure you have the wrong idea, Peter-” Nate began, but Diana cut him off.

“I think he might be right considering you’ve been muttering to yourself over here.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “Who are you talking to, Nate?”

Nate scoffed, but before he could say anything, Peter grabbed his arm and turned him. He found the earbud in Nate’s ear and grabbed it.

“Let’s go have a chat.” Peter said, turning the earbud over in his hand.

* * *

“They found Nate’s earbud. This isn’t good.” Hardison said, typing on his laptop.

“Well turn it off before they trace it!” Eliot growled.

“Already done.”

“We should call Sophie.” Parker said. She began pacing. “Tell her what’s going on. She can stay away from Peter and the FBI and help us out with Amelia.”

“Please tell me you have a plan.” Hardison looked over at her. “Nate is now MIA until we get him out of there.”

“I’m working on it.” She said, chewing on her lip.

* * *

Sophie’s phone started ringing and she excused herself from the table. El gave her a nod and Mozzie didn’t look up from his tea. After a few minutes, Sophie returned with a very serious look on her face.

“Have you talked to Peter today, Liz?” She asked.

El raised an eyebrow at her. “No, why?”

Sophie glanced at Mozzie before continuing. “Because he just took Nate into FBI custody.”

“_What?! _” El said, standing up immediately. “What are you talking about?”

Mozzie shot up himself and pointed his finger at Sophie. “He arrested him because we found out about your little plan! I saw your crew hitting that building in Lower Manhattan!”

“Moz, you did this?” El turned to him.

“Yes! I called Neal the _ second _ I saw their crew hitting their mark! I told him to tell Peter what was going on! That Nate and his crew were just using you two so he could slow down the FBI and they could get whatever they came here for!”

“Mozzie, we came here for Liz.” Sophie said slowly. “Not to con the FBI.”

Mozzie looked between Sophie and El. He shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. “What?”

“Mozzie,” El said, “Nate is my brother.” 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is possibly the longest one so far! So prepare yourselves!

Peter and Nate were in the FBI’s interrogation room now. Nate was sitting down, handcuffed to the table in front of him, and Peter stood across from him, his hands on the table. Neal, Diana, and Jones were watching from the outside.

“So Nate’s a criminal mastermind?” Jones said, hands in his pockets.

“Yup.” Neal said.

“Who’s been using his old IYS job as a cover so he could con us right under our noses?” Diana said. Her arms were crossed in front of her.

“Yup. And using an old friendship that he had with El to get here without raising Peter’s suspicion.” Neal said.

“He’s one smart bastard.” Jones said.

“We should try to find the rest of his crew while Peter holds him.” Diana suggested. “At least put an APB out while we figure out what they came here for.”

“We can’t prove they took anything, but maybe they’ll still have it on them.” Jones said. “I’ll get people looking.”

He walked out and Diana and Neal turned back towards the two in the interrogation room.

* * *

“You know, I did like you. But it turns out you were just using me and my wife to get some prize from a mansion downtown. Now I’m pissed.” Peter said, staring daggers at Nate. “Tell me what you came here for.”

Nate nodded slowly at the agent. After a few moments, he opened his mouth. “I don’t think I will.”

“You involved my wife in this. You crossed a line that I don’t like being crossed. You’re going back to prison and I’m going to make sure you never get out.” Peter jabbed a finger at the table.

Nate looked over at the wall where he had a feeling the other agents were watching. He thought for a minute and then turned back to Peter.

“Do you know why I involved Liz?” He said. Peter’s nostrils flared. “Because she was an easy mark. She was so distraught about her dad dying that it was easy to bring up an old childhood friendship with her and get her to invite us over here to meet her big shot FBI husband.”

“El’s from Illinois, not Boston. Where you’re from. I looked it up.” Peter said. “So you’re lying about being an old friend of hers.”

“Yeah, El may not have been friends with me, but she did go to school with _ a _ Nathan Ford. It turns out that’s a pretty common name. And it’s easy to get a grieving person to believe anything. So it was easy to get here and easy to con you into letting me into the building.” Nate’s stare didn’t waver from Peter’s.

“And you got in here to do what?” Peter asked.

“I told you I’m not telling you.” Nate said. “You’re this big smart FBI agent, you figure it out. And good luck figuring it out before we’re done.”

Peter huffed and continued to glare at Nate. Nate just stared back.

* * *

“_Excuse me?! _ Nathan Ford is your _ brother _??” Mozzie said. He’d sat down after hearing that news from El.

“Yes, Moz. And he’s here to meet Peter. I’ve been estranged from my family since I moved to New York.” El explained.

“Your maiden name is Mitchell, not Ford though.” Mozzie said. He looked up at El.

“I changed my name when I moved here. My father helped.”

“Your father . . .?”

“Jimmy Ford. Loan shark.” El played with her hands in front of her. “I wanted away from the family name and business, so I asked him to help me create a new identity.”

“I’ve met your father. Alan Mitchell. Who was that?”

“That was Jimmy Ford.” El said. She took a deep breath. “He created Alan and Tina Mitchell so he could keep an eye on me here. He’d come over every once and a while and check up on me and mess with Peter a little.”

“You let a _ loan shark _ into the Suit’s house? And he had no idea? I’m impressed.” Mozzie fell further back into his chair and stared at the floor. “And you’ve been lying to the Suit for your entire marriage.” He looked up at El.

“It was just to escape my father’s enemies! To get away from that life and be my own person, who didn’t have a dad in an illegal business. I didn’t lie about anything except where I was from, my last name, and my family. Everything else has been the truth.” El explained. “I’m still the same person, Moz. I lied to Peter because I didn’t _ want _to be Elizabeth Ford. I wanted to be Elizabeth Mitchell.”

“And now she doesn’t want to be estranged anymore, so she brought us here because Nate is the only family she has left.” Sophie said, stepping forward. “We wanted to see if we could find some compromise between telling Peter the truth and keeping Liz at arm’s length. So we had to lie about who Nate was and why we were here.”

Mozzie looked at Sophie, then at El. “But Nate is still a bad guy. He and his crew are the baddest in the country. They’ve pulled some pretty big jobs. And you brought him into the FBI with the Suit??”

“I can handle this.” Sophie put a hand on El’s shoulder and stepped forward. “Most people only know the cons we’ve pulled, but every job has been to help people. We conned a jury to get a widow the justice she deserved. We beat a Steranko because Parker was trapped inside and we ended up stopping a worldwide wheat famine in the process. We rigged an election in order to take down international crime lord, Damien Moreau. We’ve taken down dozens of corrupt CEOs because they were hurting people. We conned them out of everything they had and gave people their lives back. Mozzie, we may be criminals, but we’re not bad people.”

Mozzie stared at the two for a while, processing all of this information.

“But I have to go now.” Sophie said to El. “Nate’s in trouble and my crew needs me.”

“And I have to go talk to Peter. I have to explain everything and try to get him to release Nate.” El said.

Sophie grabbed her purse and threw it over her shoulder. “Good luck with that.” She paused next to El on her way out and whispered in her ear. “Wait 30 minutes and then head over to Peter.”

El nodded to her as Sophie left. She turned to Mozzie, who still looked no closer to processing this information. She started looking for a bottle of wine to pour him a glass.

* * *

Peter walked out of the interrogation room and over to Diana and Neal.

“I want extensive background checks on him and everything he’s done since he’s gotten into the city. And do we know where his crew is now?” He asked.

“Ford’s smart enough to make sure we can’t track anything related to what he’s doing back to him. He and his crew have dozens of aliases and they make up new ones in every city they hit.” Neal said. “I doubt we’ll find out anything.”

“But Jones is putting an APB out for his crew right now. We’re telling them it’s of the highest priority, so there’s a good chance we’ll get a hit from that.” Diana added.

“Good. I’m sending Ford back to the prison he escaped from no matter what, but if we can grab his crew too and whatever they took, even better.” Peter put his hands on his hips. “Any word from Mozzie on El?” He turned to Neal.

“No. I’m sorry, Peter. I texted him, but he hasn’t texted back. And I can’t risk calling when Sophie Devereaux may be in the room.” Neal said. “He’ll make sure she’s safe, though. I’m sure of that. He’ll text me the second he can.”

“Good. I want to know when El’s out of there. I want her far away from this. There’s no telling how this is going to go.” Peter said.

“At least we grabbed his earbud. He can’t communicate with his team now.” Diana said. “Forensics is trying to get what they can from it now. Maybe we can trace it back to the others. Their preliminary check said it has GPS tracking.”

Peter stared through the one way window at Nate. He sighed. “God what a day this turned into.”

“I’m sorry, Peter-” Neal began.

“Don’t be.” Peter interrupted. He turned back to Neal. “That man was in my home without me knowing who he was. Imagine what he could’ve done if you hadn’t told me. You made the right call, Neal. And I think we have a chance at stopping them.”

“I hope so.” Neal said, turning to look at Nate. “If we can catch their crew, that’d be a huge win for us and people all across the world.”

* * *

Sophie rushed into Nate’s hotel room and found the trio in various stages of work. Hardison was typing on his laptop with Parker looking intently over his shoulder and Eliot was in the corner tinkering with Harper’s device.

“Please tell me you guys have a plan.” Sophie said breathlessly. “Nate in FBI custody IN the New York FBI headquarters is in the top 5 worst ways this trip could have ended.”

“I have a plan.” Parker said, looking up from Hardison’s screen. “Me and Hardison are on Nate and you and Eliot are going to take down Sean Harper.”

“The will dispute, Parker? Is that really a priority right now?” Sophie asked.

“We can do both. Nate would do both.” Parker replied. She took a few steps forward and grabbed two FBI badges off the bed. “Grab an earbud and Eliot will fill you in. Hardison and I should go get Nate now while we still have a chance. The second they transport him anywhere else, it’ll take weeks of work to get to him.”

“Alright. I trust you, Parker. Go get him back.” Sophie said, grabbing an earbud off the table.

* * *

El and Mozzie were outside of the FBI headquarters, ready to step inside when Mozzie stopped on the sidewalk.

“I am not going in there! I said I would come with you to the FBI building, but not that I would go inside!” Mozzie protested.

“Mozzie, you caused this mess! You had my husband take my brother into custody. You’re coming inside with me and helping me explain this!” El said, pointing to the building behind them. “Next time, make sure you do some more research before having Peter handcuff someone and you won’t have to come.”

“Fine.” Mozzie said, hands up in front of him. “I will come as moral support, but I am not saying a word to anyone and I refuse to face any security cameras.” He plucked a hat off of a passerby and put it on his head. “Let’s get this over with already.”

* * *

Peter, Neal, and Diana were still outside of the interrogation room when an FBI agent came up to them.

“Excuse me, Agent Burke?” The agent said. “Your wife is here. She’s waiting for you in your office.”

“I’m guessing Moz got El out.” Neal said, looking at Peter.

“Thanks.” Peter said to the agent, who left. He turned to Diana. “I’m going to go talk to El, explain the situation. Don’t let _ anyone _ in that room.” He pointed at Nate.

“You got it, boss.” Diana said. She turned back to watch Nate while Neal followed Peter back to the main portion of the office.

The two saw Mozzie first near a clump of desks. He wore a brimmed hat and had his face turned at _ just _ the right angle to avoid the nearest camera. A glance up told them that El was pacing in Peter’s office.

“Good luck.” Neal said as Peter veered off to go up the stairs to his office. Then Neal turned to Mozzie, who hadn’t moved an inch in the time it’d taken him to walk over. “How’d she convince you to come up here?”

“Apparently I’m in a lot of trouble.” Mozzie said.

“Why? You told her Nate was an _ international _criminal, right?” Neal asked. He glanced up at the couple talking in Peter’s office.

“Well not only did she already know that, but evidently Nathan Ford is her brother.”

Neal’s eyes widened at Mozzie. His head snapped up to look at El again. “_ What?! _”

* * *

Peter started talking the second he entered his office. “El, listen, I know you think that Nate is your friend, but he’s a wanted fugitive. He was deceiving both of us and I had to take him into custody. Sophie’s in on it too, which is why Mozzie got you away from her.”

“Yeah, I know.” El butted in when Peter took a breath. She wrung her hands in front of her and was quiet for a moment. Peter’s eyes widened.

“You knew that Ford-?”

“I knew that Nate was a criminal and I knew he was lying about what he’s been doing since IYS, but I _ needed _to bring him here to you.”

“So I could arrest him, right?” Peter’s eyebrows furrowed.

“So he could meet you and . . . you two could possibly become friends.”

“I’m sorry. This guy is having his crew rob mansions in broad daylight and you wanted me to become _ friends _ with him?? He was arrested by _ Interpol _.” Peter looked at his wife incredulously before taking a step forward. “Is he threatening you so you’ll help him get close to me?”

“Hon, he’s not that bad a guy-”

“I have Nathan Ford handcuffed in an interrogation room. A man who was arrested two years ago for a handful of crimes, who then broke _ out _of a maximum security prison and is now a wanted fugitive, and who’s admitted to deceiving you and then me in order to get into a government building to do God knows what! And you’re defending him??” Peter looked away and put his hand on his mouth. He turned back to El. “Why? What reason do you have for thinking that this isn’t a dangerous man??”

El picked at a fingernail and took a shaky breath in. “Because he’s my brother, Peter. And his crew of international criminals only break laws to help people now. He’s helped a lot of people. And I thought two people who love to serve justice would get along great.”

Peter froze at El’s confession. A few tears escaped her eyes and she looked down at the floor.

“I never liked lying to you, but I just didn’t want to be Elizabeth Ford anymore. So I changed my name to Mitchell when I moved to New York and left that life behind me. After my dad died,” El paused and took a shaky breath in. A tear rolled down her cheek. “I realized Nate was the only family I had left and I didn’t want to keep him at arm's length anymore. So I invited him here to meet you, as a friend and not my brother, and we’d see how it went.” She looked up at him. “I was going to tell you after you two closed the Kandinsky case. Because you two were really getting along and I thought you’d like knowing that he was your brother-in-law.” El sniffled and her sobs became heavier. “I’m so sorry, Peter.”

Peter was still frozen to the spot, staring blankly at his wife. It was certainly a lot of information to swallow at once, especially considering he had Nate handcuffed in the other room.

“So you’re not from Illinois and those people that I thought were your parents . . . were they just con artists too?” Peter raised his hands to rest on his hips.

“The woman who said she was my mother was a con artist, but Alan Mitchell was my real father.” El said. She grabbed a tissue off of Peter’s desk and dabbed at her eyes. “His real name was Jimmy Ford and he was a loan shark in Boston. And he really did die a few weeks ago. In an explosion on a job that went bad.”

Peter started pacing at this new information. “Your dad was a _ loan shark _ ?? And he came into _ my house _ ?? _ Our house _??”

* * *

An FBI agent answered his desk phone and after a brief conversation, ran past Neal and Mozzie towards the interrogation room. They both watched him go.

“Seems like Ford’s escape plan is in motion.” Mozzie said.

Neal glanced up at the emotional couple and then towards where the agent ran off to. “Do you trust what El said, Moz? About Ford not being bad?”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “He’s a good con man, but having her believe he’s her brother is a pretty big con to pull, even for him. It may be more likely that he is her brother. I just don’t know if I can see Mrs. Suit as a con man’s sister.”

“And a loan shark’s daughter.”

“And Peter had no idea? It’s all a little hard to believe.”

“But if she’s anything like her family, maybe El could keep up the con just well enough for it to work. Especially since she didn’t really have contact with them.” Neal said, glancing at Mozzie. “I need to know if I should stop Ford from escaping. This is the closest anyone’s been in 2 years.”

“If even a little of what Mrs. Suit said about his crew only pulling cons to help people is true, do you even want to try to stop him?” Mozzie said.

The two watched Diana come over and pick up the phone previously left by the agent. “Yes, hello?” Her voice turned irritated. “I don’t have time for this right now!” Listening, then a sigh. “Alright, fine, what do you need to know?”

Neal’s inaction told Mozzie his answer.

* * *

“I just can’t believe I’ve been lied to for over _ ten years _ by my wife!” Peter said, pacing the room angrily.

“Can you really be angry at me for trying to get away from _ this _ part of my family?” El shot back. “After you handcuffed my brother after seeing his record? After learning that my dad used to bust kneecaps in a bar? I’m not a criminal, Peter. You know that. I didn’t lie to fool you, I did it to become an innocent woman. Would you have even given me the time of day if you knew I was a woman with a family of criminals? Our wedding would’ve been a mass arresting event.”

Peter ran his hand over his face. “I don’t have time for this right now. We can have a proper conversation tonight after Ford’s entire crew is caught and in prison.”

“You’re _ still _ going to arrest my brother and his team? _ Really, Peter _ ?! They are _ helping people _!”

Peter’s response was cut short by a commotion downstairs.

* * *

“Hey, hey, hey!” Diana yelled, walking briskly towards the agents bringing in a handcuffed Nicholas Burton and the stolen Several Circles painting. “You can’t bring him in here, our interrogation room is full!”

Peter and El walked out of his office and towards the railing overlooking the main office. Another agent near the interrogation room hallway spoke up.

“It was empty when I was just in there.”

Diana and Peter quickly exchanged looks and ran towards where they were holding Nate. Neal followed after them shortly. The three of them ran and saw an empty interrogation room, Nate’s empty handcuffs on the table.

“Dammit!” Peter yelled, slamming his hand on the glass. “Where the hell did he go?!” He turned to Diana. “Why weren’t you watching him?!”

“I got a call . . . “ She started. She sighed after a second. “That probably had one of Ford’s crew on the other end.”

“Call lobby security! Lock down the building, the elevators, no one gets out until we find Ford!” Peter said. Diana nodded and they ran back out towards the main office.

El was down on the main floor and stepped in front of Peter on his way back up to his office.

“Peter-” She began.

“Not now. We’ll talk tonight. Okay, hon?” He said, sidestepping her and continuing up to his office.

“_Please _ don’t do this, Peter.” El pleaded.

Peter stopped above her and put his hands on the railing. “He’s a wanted fugitive, El. I have to do my job.” Then he continued into his office, where he immediately picked up his phone.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Hughes said, stepping out of his own office and seeing the hectic floor below him. Neal pointed at Peter and Hughes walked into Peter’s office, closing the door behind him.

Neal then stepped closer to El as she wiped away a tear. She sniffled then turned to him.

“Neal, promise me you won’t let them catch him.” She said. Neal opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “He’s my brother, Neal. And he’s a good guy. You practically major in evading the FBI, please make sure they don’t catch him. That mansion that Mozzie saw them breaking into? It’s to help out a woman whose father died. Her father’s business partner forged his will so she wouldn’t get any of his money. Money that was going to go to the low income school she works in. He stole money from children, Neal, and they’re just trying to get it back and get her justice.”

Neal sighed. “Mozzie didn’t mention anything about children.” He side-eyed Mozzie, who still hadn’t moved from his spot, not even as FBI agents jostled into him as they rushed around. Neal turned back to El. “I’ll do what I can, but Nate and his crew only have so much time before Peter finds them. They’re probably going to have to leave town today.”

“I know. Peter’s smart, but Nate’s smart too. He just needs a stall so Peter won’t catch him.” El said.

“And what about this woman? Will they still be able to help her?”

El sighed. “I don’t know. I hope so.” She looked around at the bustling FBI agents. “I should go home. Find a way to explain all this to Peter so he doesn’t hate me forever.”

“Good luck. I’m sure Mozzie will be happy to walk you back.” Neal said. He gave El a hug. “I’m sorry I caused all this. I really thought he was here to do something bad.”

El hugged him back. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. I always knew this was a possibility when I invited him here.”

El detached herself from Neal and gave Peter one last look before she started walking towards the elevators.

“Coming, Moz?” She said.

Mozzie started shuffling backwards towards her. “I’m coming!” Neal gave him a look, to which he replied: “I got this!”

Neal watched sadly as El and Moz entered an elevator down to the lobby.


	15. Chapter 15

More than half an hour later, the FBI was still no closer to catching Nate and his crew. They’d swept each floor and didn’t find them, so they either escaped before the lockdown or somehow evaded the agents looking for them. Peter was now in Hughes’ office receiving quite the earful.

“Do you want to explain to me HOW an international criminal AND wanted Interpol fugitive managed to slip under your radar so well that you had me filling out consultant paperwork for him?” Hughes asked. He was sitting at his desk with his brows furrowed tightly and his hands clasped in his lap. Peter sat across from him.

“El introduced him as a friend and his job at IYS _ was _ the truth. He didn’t become a criminal until a few years ago, so he had plenty of real stories of a normal life. I didn’t even consider he wasn’t who he said he was.” Peter said. “So of course I didn’t look him up to see if he had a record. I trusted my wife and his credentials were solid.”

“Until Caffrey told you who he really was?” Hughes said, raising an eyebrow.

Peter sighed. “Yeah . . . I’ll admit this wasn’t one of my proudest moments. At least he helped us solve the Guggenheim case.” Peter gave a slight smile, which Hughes didn’t return.

“And the Guggenheim is very happy to have Several Circles back, but I’m not happy that Ford was running around the FBI for a day and a half doing God knows what. Do you have any leads on what he was doing here?” Hughes said.

Peter twirled his thumbs a bit before answering. “El says that he’s her brother and he was just here to reconnect with family.”

Hughes gave a deep sigh. “Well that’s certainly something to find out. But, no offense to your wife, I highly doubt that was his only motive. A wanted fugitive doesn’t waltz into an FBI building just to hang out with his brother-in-law. I want you to find him and find out what he was doing here. Then undo it.”

“On it. I think Neal may know more about what he was doing here, since he’s the one who told me about Ford.” Peter said. He stood up and left Hughes’ office.

* * *

Peter gathered Diana and Neal in his office.

“We didn’t get Ford or any of his crew on surveillance.” Diana said. “There were a few glitches throughout the tapes, so I think they tampered with them so we couldn’t see them. We don’t even know which members of his crew were here.” Diana handed Peter a few photos. “Though an office on the 22nd floor did find a hole in their floor. And it’s right above the interrogation room.”

Peter flipped through photos of a sawed-through floor and finally the hole that led right to where Nate was sitting.

“So we know how they grabbed him, but they still managed to get in and out without us knowing. Did anyone upstairs see anyone unusual go into this office?” He asked, motioning to the photos in his hand.

“An agent said he was kicked out of his office by maintenance. He was told they had to replace a cable and to ignore any noise.” Diana replied. “He said it was a black man and a white woman.”

“Blonde or brunette?” Neal asked.

“Blonde.”

“That sounds like Parker and Hardison.” Neal said. “Nate’s resident thief and hacker respectively. So it makes sense that the cameras didn’t pick them up and they managed to get in and out without us knowing. Parker is known for jumping off skyscrapers. I wouldn’t put it past them to jump off the FBI building to get out, worst case scenario.”

“And we got nothing from the APB we put out for them?” Peter asked. Diana shook her head. “Then our only other lead is that mansion Mozzie saw them breaking into. We can find out what they took and work from there. Maybe find who they’re selling it to. Can Mozzie tell us the address?”

Peter and Diana turned to Neal and he stood there silently. After a few seconds, he blinked at them.

“I’m sorry, do you really think Mozzie is going to rat on them after finding out that Nate and his crew are running cons to help people? He didn’t tell me where this was and even if he did, I don’t think I could tell you, Peter.”

“Neal . . . ” Peter sighed heavily.

“Peter, do you know what they were doing at that mansion? Bringing justice to a woman whose father died. His business partner forged his will and wrote her out of it. She was going to use that inheritance to help out her school. To help out children. And Nate and his crew were going to get it back for her. I can’t help you with this, Peter.” Neal shook his head and put his hands up.

“We can handle will disputes, Neal. That’s what the FBI is here for. We can help her after we put away Ford and his crew. We can’t let Interpol-wanted fugitives run free.” Peter retorted.

“Elizabeth asked you not to go after him. He’s her brother and he’s helping people. He’s doing what you do except on the other side of the law.” Neal said. He put his hands in his pants pockets.

“No he’s not. I make sure people obey the law. He’s breaking them in the name of his own warped sense of justice, alright? Laws were put in place to keep justice and order and breaking them does not MAKE justice.” Peter said, jabbing his finger into his desk at the last few words. “Now I need you to help me find them or I can arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

“It’s not obstruction of justice if I don’t know anything. I know just as much about where Nate and his crew are and what building they hit as you do. I’m not withholding anything, so good luck making that stick in court.” Neal said and stomped out of the office.

“Neal!” Peter shouted after him. Neal ignored him and kept walking back to his desk. “Dammit.” Peter sighed. He turned to Diana. “Let’s keep our ears to the ground and blast that APB out again. And I want us to talk to our informants and see if anyone has information on Ford and his crew and their whereabouts. I want to find his tiniest slip-up. And then we find him and nail him.”

“You got it, boss.” Diana said, leaving his office.

Peter leaned back in his chair and sighed, putting his hand under his chin.

* * *

At noon, a woman walked into the White Collar office with a manila envelope in hand asking to see Peter Burke. She said it was urgent and was led into his office. Peter was on the phone with one of the various NYPD precincts and hung up soon after she entered.

“Can I help you?” Peter asked. He looked at her, then at the agent who brought her in. “I’m in the middle of something important here, so I can’t handle anything right now. Maybe one of my agents-”

“I was told to give you this at noon.” She interrupted, holding out the envelope. It was a thick envelope.

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. “Who told you to do that?”

“These people who are helping me prove my father’s will was forged. They said you could help catch the person who did it.”

A lightbulb went off over Peter’s head. He turned to the agent next to her. “You can leave us. And close the door.”

He did as Peter said and soon the woman was sitting across from Peter. She put the manila envelope on his desk.

“They said there was proof in here that my father’s will was forged. And that the person responsible will go to jail.” She explained.

Peter picked up the envelope and shook it slightly. It sounded like a lot of paper, but no bombs or anything metallic. He slowly opened it and slid its contents into his hand. Out slid two thick document stacks and an index card. He put the documents and empty envelope on his desk and read the index card:

AMELIA CLARKE’S FATHER WAS MURDERED

FIND THE CULPRIT AT THE RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART AT 12:30 PM

Peter looked up at the woman in front of him.

“Are you Amelia Clarke?”

“Yes.”

He put the index card down and looked at the 2 document stacks in front of him. One had a sticky note with the word “ORIGINAL” on it and the other had the word “FORGED” on it. He started going through both wills, finding the differences in the two. After several minutes, he flipped both wills back to their first page and looked up at Amelia.

“The forged will has Sean Harper as your father’s beneficiary while the original has you. And this card,” Peter picked up the index card and flipped it to show her what it said, “says that your father was murdered. Do you think this Sean Harper did it?”

“I-I don’t know. Maybe? Sean Harper was my father’s business partner. I can’t see him harming my father, but it does look like he had the most to gain from it.” Amelia said.

“He did. How did your father die, Miss Clarke?”

“Lung cancer. It took him a few months after he was diagnosed. It all happened so fast.” Peter put the index card down and looked down at the wills again. “Can someone give someone else lung cancer, Agent Burke?”

Peter looked up at Amelia. “Well someone seems to think you can. Can you tell me the name of the people who gave you this envelope, Miss Clarke?”

“Oh yes.” She dug in her purse for a second and pulled out a business card. She held it out to Peter. “Leverage Consulting & Associates.”

Peter took the card from her and inspected it. It said ‘Leverage Consulting & Associates’ like she said and had a Los Angeles address underneath. No phone number and no other information.

“Of course. Thank you.” Peter smiled at her. “And these people, how much money did they ask from you in order to help you?”

“They didn’t ask for any money. They said they didn’t operate on fees from clients. That they did this just to help and not for any kind of payment.” She said.

“Of course.” Peter said, trailing off at the end. He looked intently down at the business card in his hand. “Do you mind if I keep this, Miss Clarke?” He flashed the card at her.

“Of course, go ahead. I don’t need it anymore.” She said.

Peter opened the cabinet next to him and threw the card inside. He picked up the index card again. “We’re going to follow this lead and hopefully catch whoever supposedly killed your father. I’ll hand you over to our in-house forgery expert and he can help you out some more. Then we’ll be in touch.”

Peter stood up and grabbed both copies of the wills as well. He motioned for Amelia to follow him as he led her out of his office and towards Neal.

“I told you, Peter, I’m not helping you-” Neal began. Peter cut him off.

“I don’t need you to help me, I need you to help Miss Clarke.” Peter dropped both copies of the wills on Neal’s desk. “I need you to prove that one of these is a forgery. She’s pretty sure someone forged her father’s will.”

Neal looked down at the wills in front of him and then his face lit up and he looked up at Amelia, then Peter. “Of course.”

“And I have to go follow my own lead.” Peter said, showing Neal the index card in his hand. “I should be back soon if everything goes well.”

Neal nodded at Peter and motioned to a chair nearby for Amelia to sit in. “Let’s see if we can’t prove that your father’s business partner is a dirty cheat.”

Amelia smiled at him and took the seat. Peter walked over to Diana and Jones to assemble a squad to go downtown.


	16. Chapter 16

At 12:30 pm, a couple of FBI squad cars pulled up to the Rubin Museum of Art, where there was a big crowd of nicely dressed people lingering outside. As Peter and the agents he brought with him began filtering out of their cars, a man broke free from the crowd and practically ran over to them.

“Thank god you’re here, officers! Someone has tried to kill us!” The man said. He was balding on the top of his head and wearing a tuxedo.

As soon as the man finished talking, the scent of moldy hay hit Peter’s nose. Diana appeared next to him, also sniffing the air.

“What is that smell?” Peter said, partially to himself and partially to the people around him.

“It’s phosgene gas.” The man said breathlessly. “You need to get someone down here to contain it! A biohazard team or something.”

“Phosgene gas?” Diana said incredulously to Peter.

“Who are you? What was going on before this gas?” Peter motioned to the crowd in front of them.

“My name is Sean Harper. I’m an art dealer. We were having a gala to celebrate the Rubin’s new French art exhibit when I smelled the gas coming from one of the vents!” The man in front of Peter said. He was very flustered. “It’s very deadly, so I had to evacuate everybody!”

Peter perked up at the man’s name. “And you were able to identify phosgene gas by smell, Mr. Harper? That’s not something most people would know, especially an art dealer.”

Mr. Harper stammered slightly before answering. “I guess I just got lucky then. Everyone here was lucky that I know what it smells like!”

Peter turned to Diana. “Call the biohazard team. I want them to contain whatever is inside the museum and I want a mask so I can watch them find whatever it is.”

Diana nodded and walked away to make the call. Peter sighed and looked up at the building.

“What is your game, Ford?” He whispered to himself.

* * *

Once the biohazard team got there and established a perimeter, Peter suited up and followed them into the museum. From Harper’s intel, they knew whatever was causing the gas leak was coming from vents on the northeast side of the gala room. After removing the coverings off of a few vents, they found a small cube device inside one of them. It was definitely dispensing something. A member of the biohazard team used special tongs and tools to lift and open the device. Inside was nothing but moldy hay. The same member poked around inside the device and, after determining that there was nothing inside but moldy hay, gave everyone the all clear to remove their masks. Peter removed his mask and held his hand out for the device. The biohazard team member placed it in his gloved hand.

“Looks like it was a false alarm.” He said. He turned the device in his hand, inspecting it. “Someone wanted to make people think phosgene gas was coming out of the vents.”

He kept the device in his gloved hands as he removed the rest of his hazmat suit. He turned to the rest of the biohazard team.

“I have to go ask an art dealer about a poison.” He said, then walked outside the museum to where Sean Harper was pacing across the street. He motioned to Diana and Jones to follow him as he walked over. Once over there, Peter held up the small device and turned it for Harper to see. “Turns out this is what was causing that smell. Some type of dispenser filled with moldy hay. You don’t know why anyone would want to put this at your gala, would you?”

Harper shook his head. “No, I have no idea.” His eyes looked terrified though when he first saw the device.

“Diana,” Peter asked, “do you know how phosgene gas kills you?”

“It kills by asphyxiation. After a few hours, you get fluid in your lungs and it gets hard to breath. If you get exposed to enough of it, it stops you from breathing.” She answered, arms crossed.

Peter turned back to Harper. “Mr. Harper, your business partner just died, didn’t he? Frank Clarke?”

Harper’s eyes widened. “Y-yes. How did you know that?”

“And he died from lung cancer, very suddenly, and you were named the beneficiary of his will.” Peter turned his attention to the device in his hand, turning it slowly. “And you seem to have an interesting knowledge of poison gases. Now Jones, don’t some poison gases give people lung cancer?”

“Yes they do.” Jones answered. Harper started shifting on his feet nervously.

“So we found someone with motive and knowledge AND, from the look you gave this device when I walked up Mr. Harper, who knows exactly what this device can do. Mr. Harper, I’m going to have to ask you to come with us. We have a few more questions about your business partner’s sudden death.” Peter said.

Harper tried to run, but Diana tackled him onto his stomach and pressed her knee onto his back while she handcuffed him.

“Mr. Harper, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you . . . “ She started reading him his rights.

Peter smiled to himself, then went to go find an evidence bag to throw the small device in.

* * *

Halfway up a building down the street from the Rubin, a team of five criminals watched Sean Harper be led into a police car in handcuffs. All had smiles on their faces. Sophie, Eliot, and Hardison turned to leave first. Nate and Parker stayed, watching the police car drive back uptown.

“Good work, Parker.” Nate said. Then he turned and walked away.

Parker’s smile got wider as she watched the police car carrying Sean Harper drive out of sight.

* * *

Peter, Neal, and Amelia Clarke all sat nervously in Peter’s office, waiting for the results on the device they found in the museum. Neal had proven that the will naming Harper as Frank Clarke’s beneficiary was a forgery and the one naming Amelia was real. Now they were just waiting to nail Harper with the murder weapon.

Neal was twirling his thumbs and tapping his foot while he waited. Amelia was tense in her chair and kept looking behind her to see if someone was coming in soon. Peter gave Neal a look and he stopped tapping his foot.

“How long do these tests usually take?” Neal asked.

“I’m not sure. We’ve never had to do such an extensive poison test before. Once phosgene didn’t show up, we had to do them all.” Peter said.

“And you’re sure he poisoned my father?” Amelia said. “Isn’t it enough to just arrest him for forging the will?”

“If he did poison your father, Amelia, we want to make sure we get him for that too. I know you’re nervous, but trust me, once we find out what poison he used, we can put him away for a very long time. And you’ll get the inheritance you were supposed to.” Peter said.

“I just can’t believe he would do such a thing. I mean, I’ve known Sean since I was a little girl. To think that he could do that to my father . . . “ Amelia trailed off and her eyes became misty. Neal leaned over and offered her a tissue from Peter’s desk. She smiled at him and took it. “And thank you, Mr. Caffrey, for helping me prove that my father’s will was a fake.”

“It was easy. He didn’t do a super good job.” Neal said, offering her a half-smile.

“Looks like he’s better at murder.” Peter said. He motioned behind Neal and Amelia at Diana, who was approaching the office with a file in her hand. They turned and watched as Diana entered his office. “What’s the verdict?”

“Radon. Lots of it. I’m surprised Frank Clarke didn’t die sooner, to be honest with you.” Diana handed Peter the file and he looked through it. “We should have more than enough to nail him, especially since he tried to run away when we confronted him. It also seems like someone was helpful enough to slip an old bank statement into Harper’s jacket pocket. A transaction to a country with terrorists who have been known to use those devices was highlighted for us. We have proof that he bought one of these devices, a motive, and now we know which poison he used.”

Peter looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks Diana.”

She smiled back and left his office.

“So he’s going to jail for a long time?” Amelia asked.

“Oh a very long time.” Peter told her with a smile. His smile faded a few seconds later. “I’m just sorry that we got here too late and we couldn’t do more to help your father.”

“You’ve helped my students though, Agent Burke.” Amelia smiled at him. “They will all be very grateful for the things we’ll be able to buy the school with my father’s money. We’ve been trying to get washers and dryers for the kids who don’t have one at home. And we’ll be able to get them better books and smartboards for them to use.”

“Well I’m glad. They need the money more than Harper does.” Peter said.

“I’ll be going now then.” Amelia stood up and gathered her purse. “Thank you again for everything, Agent Burke.” She shook his hand and turned to Neal. “And thank you again, Mr. Caffrey.” She shook his hand.

“It was a pleasure, Miss Clarke.” He smiled at her and she walked out of Peter’s office. When she had disappeared down the stairs, Neal turned to Peter. “Do you believe now that Nathan Ford and his team are doing good? Thanks to them, a murderer is going to jail and a bunch of school kids are getting new equipment.”

“Thank to _ us _, you mean Neal.” Peter said.

“_Peter _-”

“Sean Harper is going to prison because the FBI intervened and arrested him.”

“You know Ford tipped you off about where to go to nail Harper though. And that bank statement Harper had in his pocket? That wasn’t something he just HAD. It was planted there.” Neal said.

“I will admit Ford may have _ assisted _, but it was still the FBI that took him down.” Peter said, leaning back in his chair.

Neal sighed. “Are you at least going to be more open minded when you talk to El about everything tonight?”

Peter didn’t answer right away and stared down at the floor with his mouth scrunched up. Finally, he looked up at Neal.

“I’m just still trying to wrap my head around everything, Neal. It’s a lot to process in a day.” He said.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. We were all blindsided by the fact that Elizabeth Mitchell is actually Elizabeth Ford.” Neal sighed. He stood up. “I’m here if you want to talk, but my first bit of advice is to remember that she’s still Elizabeth and that Nate _ did _ help someone today.”

Then Neal walked out of the office and Peter watched him go, deep in thought.


	17. Chapter 17

El paced back and forth in her house, biting a nail on her right hand. Mozzie was watching her from the dining room table with a glass of wine in his hand.

“Not to add to your stress, but have you thought any more about what you’re going to say to the Suit when he comes home?” Mozzie asked.

El stopped pacing and faced him. “So far I have a ton of apologizing followed by telling him that I’m nothing like my family and Nate isn’t THAT bad of a criminal.” She said. She made a face and switched to biting a different nail. “Any other ideas?”

“Definitely lots of apologizing.” Mozzie said, nodding his head. “And I’d maybe sprinkle in some ‘I promise that’s the only secret brother I have’.”

“Moz, I’m serious.”

“So am I! I’m sure the Suit would love hearing that there’s only one brother you kept secret from him for ten years. Or at least some kind of assurance that there isn’t another bombshell secret waiting to be dropped on him.” Mozzie took a sip of wine.

“There isn’t. This is it.” El returned to pacing.

“I’m just sure it will take him some time to adjust to the idea of having an international criminal as a brother-in-law. And judging from how today went, I’d say there won’t be any family Christmases anytime soon.”

El shook her head. “Which is not how I wanted this visit to go, but there’s not much I can do about it now. At least Nate got away and, judging from the fact that neither of us have gotten any calls, I’d say they still haven’t caught him.”

“I wonder if he and his team managed to help out that schoolteacher.” Mozzie mused, swirling the glass in his hand.

“I hope so. I hope Peter’s manhunt didn’t cut their trip that short.” El said, glancing over at him.

“Either way, I’m sure they’re on the next flight back home right now.”

El stopped pacing and stared at the floor. “Yeah, I’m sure they are.” She crossed her arms and sighed.

* * *

At 7 pm, Peter still wasn’t home. El had a feeling he was dreading this conversation just as much as she was and was staying late at work. She’d poured too many glasses of wine for herself and she’d had to cut herself off because she didn’t want to be too drunk for her conversation with Peter. Her stomach was in knots as she was going over in her head what she was going to say to him and how she could make him not arrest Nate on sight the next time he saw him.

At 7:10 pm, someone rang the doorbell. When El went to answer it, no one was there but a piece of paper was stuck in the doorframe. El grabbed it and written on it was a street intersection that was 3 blocks away. She grabbed her coat and walked over.

At first, she didn’t see anyone and was getting a little nervous until she saw a familiar shape emerge from the shadows. El smiled.

“I’m glad they didn’t catch you.” She said.

“Yeah, well my team knows what they’re doing.” Nate said back. He stepped closer to her.

“You didn’t think they were going to be a little lost without you?” She said.

“Alright, they did better than I expected.” He admitted. “It’s not often that I don’t run the con. I thought Amelia was going to fall through the cracks.”

“So you helped her then? Found the real will and put her father’s business partner in prison?”

Nate nodded. “Peter actually picked him up. We gave him the pieces and he put the puzzle together. Arrested him the same afternoon. Sean Harper is going to prison for a very long time.”

“I’m glad.” El smiled at him. After a beat, she opened her mouth again. “I gotta ask though. How did you get out of the FBI? I mean, Peter didn’t leave you alone for that long.”

Nate gave her a smirk.

_ ~Leverage flashback~ _

_ Parker and Hardison walked into the FBI headquarters wearing maintenance jumpsuits and carrying a tool box. They flashed their fake IDs at the front desk and were waved through to the elevators. After arriving on the 22nd floor, they located the office that was right above White Collar’s interrogation room. _

_ Hardison knocked on the door then opened it. “Maintenance. We’re going to need to borrow your office for 15 minutes. We have to replace some cables in the floor, so there’s going to be some noise. I’d go out to lunch now.” _

_ The agent inside the office sighed and agreed, leaving the office. He grumbled something about no one ever telling him anything as he passed the two. Parker and Hardison stepped inside and closed the door. _

_ Parker immediately unzipped her jumpsuit to reveal her typical black thief outfit and opened the toolbox and took out her rappelling harness. Hardison took his laptop and a few wires out of the toolbox. He sat down at the desk and connected his laptop to the network cable. After a few minutes of tapping, he looked up. _

_ “Alright, I got access to the feed downstairs. It looks like Nate is handcuffed at the interrogation table directly below us. There’s an agent watching him from behind the one-sided glass though. Facial recognition says it’s an Agent Diana Berrigan. She’s an agent under Peter.” He said, typing a bit more. _

_ Parker revved a power saw in her hand a few times. She was fully dressed in her gear now and her harness was attached to a rope that was attached to the desk and nearby floor for stability. “Guess it’s time to lead her away then.” _

_ Hardison unplugged the desk phone and plugged his phone into the phone line instead. He started tapping on his phone. “Tapping into the FBI phone lines now and spoofing my caller ID to come from evidence.” He hit the call button and put the phone to his ear. After a few rings, it was picked up by an agent. _

_ “Hello? White Collar office.” _

_ “Hello, this is Agent Fred Jenkins from evidence. I need to talk to Agent Diana Berrigan ASAP. We have an issue with one of her most recent cases.” Hardison typed on his laptop and pulled up files of Diana’s closed cases. _

_ “She’s a little busy right now.” _

_ “Sir, a very dangerous criminal is going to be set free if I don’t get Diana Berrigan on this phone right now! We have some compromised evidence we need her expertise on! This is time sensitive!” _

_ The agent on the other end stammered. “Ri-right away! I’ll get her now.” _

_ Parker cut a hole in the carpet on the floor and waited with the power saw for Hardison’s all clear. _

_ Hardison watched the agent run to Diana on the surveillance feed and then watched them both walk quickly out of the room. Once they were gone, Hardison gave Parker a thumbs up and she made quick work of the floor below them, cutting a decent hole in it and finishing right as Diana picked up the phone. _

_ “Yes, hello?” Diana said on the other end. _

_ Parker tossed the saw on the floor and tugged at her rope one last time as she jumped down. _

_ “Yes, Agent Berrigan. This is Fred Jenkins down in evidence. We have an issue with the Dega forgery case. I need to go over all the evidence you collected to make sure what we have is accurate.” Hardison scanned a case file as he talked. _

_ “I don’t have time for this right now!” _

_ Parker landed on the interrogation table and made short work of unhandcuffing Nate. _

_ “Agent Berrigan, the evidence worker handling this case misplaced some evidence previously and we need to make sure we have everything. Lance Noble goes to trial in 2 days and do you really want him to go free because you didn’t confirm that you had all of the evidence?” Hardison used his commanding voice. _

_ Diana sighed. “Alright, fine, what do you need to know?” _

_ Hardison smiled. _

_ “It’s about time you got here.” Nate breathed. He stood up and put on the harness Parker handed him. _

_ “I think we made pretty good time.” Parker said. _

_ Once Nate was all hooked up, the two headed back up the hole in the floor. Hardison was listening off various evidence items to Diana from a list on his computer while the two removed their harnesses and worked on covering the hole in the floor as best they could. Someone would find it soon, but they should be long gone by then. _

_ Once Parker was back in her jumpsuit and the power saw, rope, and harnesses were back in the toolbox, she motioned to Hardison to move it along. He scrunched up his face at her as he listed the last of the evidence off his list. _

_ “Well everything seems to be in order, Agent Berrigan. Thank you for taking time out of your day to confirm this with us. Now there’s nothing stopping Lance Noble from going to prison on Friday.” He said. _

_ “Yeah, you’re welcome.” Diana sighed. She quickly hung up. _

_ Hardison quickly unplugged and put all of his gadgets back into the toolbox. “Alright, let’s go.” _

_ “What’s your plan to get me out of here?” Nate asked. “They’re going to notice I’m missing soon.” _

_ “The front door. We’re going to spoof the surveillance footage after we leave so they won’t see us.” Parker said. “With all the building security they have, the simplest way is the best way.” _

_ The three left the office and made their way back to the elevator. No one seemed to notice that two people went into the office and three came out. _

_ Once in the elevator, Nate spoke up again. “I doubt we’re going to make it down in time.” He watched the floor numbers slowly go down. _

_ “I think we will.” Parker said. _

_ She wiggled her eyebrows as Hardison pulled open a panel underneath the elevator buttons and plugged his phone into the circuit board in there. After a few seconds, the elevator started rapidly going down. Nate grabbed the bar on the side of the elevator for stability as he felt his stomach drop. The elevator slowed down right before they got to the lobby. Hardison disconnected his phone and placed the panel back just as the door opened to the lobby. Nate quickly stepped out. _

_ “Parker,” He panted, “never do that again.” _

_ Parker smiled as she led the boys outside. _

_ ~End of Leverage flashback~ _

“Impressive.” El said, nodding her head. “Not everyone can slip out of FBI custody  _ and  _ the FBI headquarters before they notice.”

“Yeah, they did good.” Nate nodded. “I didn’t appreciate the elevator drop, but it got us out in time.”

“The elevator drop sounds very Parker though. I’m guessing she was running this one?”

“Yeah,” Nate looked away for a moment, “she stepped up for the Amelia Clarke job and it looks like she did the same when they found out Peter grabbed me.”

“She seems to have some potential. Afraid she’s going to take your job?” El joked.

“Nah.” Nate shook his head. He turned back to El. “I’ve known for a while she has the ability to be a good mastermind. I’m just glad I was right.”

There was a brief silence between the two siblings. “And then Amelia Clarke. How did Parker do that one?” El asked.

“I’m not going to lie, I was pretty impressed with it.” Nate said.

_ ~Leverage flashback~ _

_ Sophie was sitting down at the table in Nate’s hotel room with Eliot standing in front of her. _

_ “Alright, so we took the original will from Sean Harper and we have Amelia’s forged one.” He held up two wills. “When we stole Harper’s computer data, we saw that he has a gala today at noon. At the same time, Amelia is going to give the FBI the two wills so they can prove Harper forged the new one and also give them the time and place where they can arrest Harper. That will give us enough time to plant the evidence we need to make sure that the FBI arrest Harper when they arrive.” _

_ Eliot put the two wills down. He put “ORIGINAL” and “FORGED” sticky notes on the correct wills. Then he stacked the wills, placed the index card with Harper’s location on it on top, and placed it all in a manila envelope. _

_ “How will the FBI know that Harper forged the will AND killed Amelia’s father?” Sophie asked, watching him work. _

_ “With this.” He said. He leaned over and grabbed the device they stole from Harper’s safe. “This is the device he used to kill Frank Clarke. The residue of whatever poison he used will still be inside, which is how the FBI will nail him. We’re going to fake a poisoning to get Harper to admit he knows what this device is and knows more than the average citizen about poison gases. Harper researched various poison gases on his computer before he killed Clarke, so we know he knows what phosgene gas is and how deadly it is. And phosgene gas smells like . . . “ He trailed off, trying to get Sophie to finish it. _

_ She looked at him perplexed and shook her head. “I have no idea.” _

_ “Moldy hay. It’s a very distinctive smell.” _

_ “Of course.” She said sarcastically. _

_ “So I met a guy at the farmer’s market who was kind enough to give us some of his.” Eliot said, picking up a bag filled with moldy hay and placing some hay inside the device. “We drop this in a vent at the gala and activate it. Harper will smell it and think everyone is being poisoned with phosgene gas. He’ll evacuate the gala and when the FBI arrives, he’ll spill everything and reveal himself.” _

_ “And how are we getting that in a vent? I’m not crawling in a vent.” Sophie asked. _

_ “Of course not. You’re a guest at the gala. Your job is to keep Harper occupied and slip this into his pocket.” Eliot held up a folded piece of paper. “This is Sean Harper’s bank statement. It shows the transaction he made to buy this device and we highlighted it so the FBI knows exactly what to look at.” _

_ Sophie took the paper from Eliot. “And this is the last link the FBI needs to connect Harper to the murder.” _

_ “Exactly. Meanwhile, I’ll be posing as a museum custodian to get access to the vent and slip in the device. Once it’s in the vent and activated, our only job is to get out of there before the FBI show up and let them do the rest.” Eliot said. _

_ Sophie nodded, impressed. _

* * *

_ “Mr. Harper!” Sophie said, placing her hand on Harper’s arm. “Whitney Ross. I’ve heard so much about you and I’d love to discuss some potential business dealings between us.” _

_ Harper smiled upon seeing Sophie and kissed her hand. “Of course Miss Ross. As I’m sure you’ve heard, I’m the best in the business and I can get you any art piece you like.” _

_ “Are any of those pieces available per chance? I love a good 17th Century French painting.” Sophie pointed across the room and while Harper was busy looking, snuck the bank statement into his pocket. _

_ “Oh those? I’m terribly sorry, but those are the museum’s. Sadly none of the artwork you’ll see today is available for purchase.” He turned back to Sophie and she leaned away from him, smiling. “I do know of others that are available though, but you’ll need to come to my office to see a list of those.” _

* * *

_ Eliot walked the outskirts of the gala pushing a trash can. He kept his head low and slowed down when he reached a small, eye level vent. He pulled a drill out of his toolbelt and unscrewed the vent as quietly as he could, while glancing around and making sure he wasn’t drawing any attention to himself. Once the vent cover was off, he turned on then slipped the device into the vent. He rescrewed the vent closed quickly and continued walking the gala. He slipped out of the gala hall the next chance he had. _

“Sophie, the device is in. Get out of here.”  _ Eliot whispered in the earbuds. _

* * *

_ “I’ll have to stop by then. Maybe next week.” Sophie flashed Harper a grin, then excused herself. She made an indirect path to the exit, so it wasn’t obvious that she was leaving so suddenly. _

* * *

_ After a few minutes, Harper started sniffing the air and his face dropped. He started looking wildly around the gala and when one of his employees asked him what was wrong, he immediately started yelling about how everyone had to get out of there now. _

_ “Everyone! Out now! There is an emergency and the Rubin is no longer safe! Cover your mouths and walk quickly to the exit!” Harper yelled, motioning for everyone to leave. _

_ People gave noises of surprise and covered their mouths as they hurried to the exit. People tripped on their dresses and on other people as they started to push their way out. _

_ Ten minutes later, the FBI was showing up and questioning Harper. _

_ ~End of Leverage flashback~ _

“So they had everything they needed to arrest Harper right there.” El said, nodding her head. “I’m very impressed. If Peter wasn’t such an FBI agent, I’d say you two could work together in the future.”

“We technically worked together today, but just not in a way I’m sure he wanted.” Nate shrugged.

“One last thing,” El said. Nate raised an eyebrow at her. “When Peter had you in custody, you told him that you’d lied to me about who you were in order to get into the FBI. That you weren’t really a childhood friend of mine. Why didn’t you tell him who you were? What you were really doing there? Try to get him to release you? You weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Nate stared past her for a few moments before returning his eyes to hers. “Because you’ve worked so hard to be Elizabeth Mitchell for so long and, even though you invited us here, I thought you should be the one to tell Peter. I didn’t want to throw you under the bus and redirect his anger to you. Especially since I knew my team would get me out.” He gave her a confident smile. El smiled back.

“You’d rather go to prison than reveal who I really am. Thank you. You’ve always been the caring big brother.”

“I try.” Nate shrugged.

“So you’re leaving tonight then?” El stared at him sadly.

“Yeah. We’re hopping on a plane after I say goodbye.” He looked at his watch. “I should actually probably get going. Don’t want to be late. I can’t afford to stay here another day. I’m not that lucky.” He gave her a smirk.

“Stay safe, Nate. I’m sorry that this turned out so bad.” El shook her head.

“We always knew this was a possibility when we came down here.” He replied.

“I’m going to talk to Peter tonight and see if I can salvage this. I want you to be able to come down again.” El said.

“Don’t fret too much about it. I have my life and he has his. And they don’t really mix.” Nate said. “And for obvious reasons we’re going to be MIA for a while. I’ll contact you when we’re ready. Don’t try to reach out. I don’t want Peter closing in on us while we’re helping someone out again. We got a little lucky this time.”

“Are you leaving McRory’s?” El asked. Nate didn’t answer. “Nate-”

“I’m leaving the picture of Dad up and making sure they don’t change too much of the bar when we’re gone. But it’s for the best, Liz. It’s home, but it’s about time we left.”

“I’m so sorry, Nate. I never meant to make you move.” A tear formed in El’s eye.

“It’s fine, Liz. We needed to move out soon anyway. We’ve been there a while.” Nate said. “Plus living upstairs from a bar was never good for me.” He smiled.

A few tears fell down El’s cheeks. “Everything is just changing so fast. A month ago I had a father and a brother and now I’ve lost both. And you’re leaving McRory’s behind . . . “ El took a shaky breath in. “I feel like what’s left of my childhood is gone.”

Nate pulled her into a hug. “I know, Liz. I’m sorry. I’ll come back and we’ll make it work. Everything is just too messy right now. I promise you we’ll find a way to have dinners and holidays together. This won’t be the last time I’m in New York.”

El hugged him back. “You better not be lying to make me feel better.”

“We’re too good to leave a job unfinished. And I love you too much to leave you here alone forever. Someone has to come check on you now that Dad’s gone.” Nate hugged her tighter. “I have to go now though. My flight leaves in an hour and Peter is on his way home now.” He detached himself from his sister and looked down at her. “I love you, Liz. Stay safe until I come back.”

“I love you too, Nate. Stay safe.” El wiped her tears from her cheeks and gave him a sad smile.

Nate smiled back and walked away. He looked behind him one more time before he crossed the street.


	18. Chapter 18

El was still wiping tears from her cheeks as she walked back into her house. She opened the door and was shocked to see that Peter was home. Bags of Chinese food were on the dining room table and he was pouring her a glass of wine when she walked in.

“Where were you? I was going to walk in and surprise you with dinner.” He placed the full glass of wine down on the table.

“Out for a walk. Just thinking about everything.” She said, taking her coat off.

Peter motioned to the table and El shyly walked over and sat down while he started unpacking things. El took a big gulp from her wine.

“Peter-” She blurted. He interrupted her.

“Before you say anything, I just want to say that I hate when we fight.” He handed her her favorite, pork lo mein. El took it with a smile. “And while I’m not happy about finding out that you’ve kept a brother from me for ten years AND that he’s wanted by Interpol, I know you didn’t do it with malice. You did it because you didn’t want to be Elizabeth Ford anymore.” Peter started filling his own plate with General Tso chicken and rice. “So I’m here to talk and listen, but there are obviously some things I can’t budge on.” He put the container down and looked at his wife.

“I know.” El said. She sighed. “I know your job as an FBI agent makes this hard. And I never meant to thrust you into it like this. We were going to start slow and see how you reacted to Nate as your brother-in-law before we told you anything about what he’s been doing. And even then, we were going to wait a while to tell you that because we didn’t want you handcuffing him.”

“Bringing an international criminal into our house for an extended period of time though, El. That wouldn’t look good for me or my job at all. I got an earful from Hughes today about just the day and a half Nate was in our building. If he’d been over multiple times over a few years, I don’t know if I’d still be an FBI agent.” Peter said. “Now, I’ll admit I overreacted today when I took Nate into custody, but Neal was also telling me how bad this guy was and that whatever reason he was here for was a horrible one.”

“I’m not mad that you took Nate into custody today. I’m mad that you wouldn’t let him go after you found out he was helping people. And he was my brother.”

“El-” Peter started.

“No, Peter.” El interrupted. “I know that Nate and his team helped you with Amelia Clarke today. Sean Harper is going to prison and Amelia is getting the inheritance she should’ve gotten thanks to them. You couldn’t have done that without their help.”

“If Miss Clarke had come to us _ first _-”

“No Peter!” El slammed her hand down on the table. “Nate and his team helped a woman today and got a horrible man arrested. I think you can forget about Nate escaping if they did that afterwards. They weren’t stealing some expensive painting from a museum, they were stealing an original will from a safe. I know you think everything is black and white, but my brother and his team live in this world of gray and they’re helping people in there. It’s not as easy as arresting a wanted fugitive. You’re arresting a man who is righting wrongs.”

“I right wrongs too! And I do it without breaking the law.”

“Peter, you and I both know that you let Neal bend the rules a little if it means catching a criminal. What Nate does is like that except he bends them a lot more.”

“He _ breaks _them.”

“And he still sends bad guys to jail! You have to understand that there’s more than one way to get justice.” El said. “Miss Clarke found them first, so they helped her.”

Peter took a swig of his beer and looked away. He was quiet for a few moments, then sighed.

“I’ve dedicated my whole career to the idea that you follow the rules and procedures and you get the bad guy.” He mused.

“And Nate showed you today that isn’t always the case.” El butted in.

“But we can’t just switch to this new way of doing things. Nate got us everything we needed to nail Harper, but if this became a regular thing, I’d lose my job. I can’t rely on criminals to get our evidence through illegal means.” Peter looked over at El.

“And I’m not asking you to do that. I’m just asking you to understand that he isn’t as bad as his file says he is. He’s helping people by breaking the law.” El said. “I just need you to not arrest him the next time you see him.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, El.” Peter picked up a forkful of rice, then put it back down. “I have a job to do. If Hughes or any other high-ranking FBI agent finds out that I’m having Nathan Ford over for dinners or holidays, I’ll be fired like that.” Peter snapped his finger. “It’s not a matter of if I want to do it, El. It’s a matter of if I can do it and not lose my job.”

El looked down at her lo mein, pushing the noodles around with her chopsticks. “I know, Peter. I’m sorry that this has put you in such a hard position.” She looked up at him. “You can see now why I hid it for so long. Elizabeth Ford has no place in the company of the FBI.”

“Hey.” Peter knelt down next to her and put his hand on hers. He looked her in the eye. “I will accept you as Elizabeth Ford or Elizabeth Mitchell. I married you because I love you, all of you. And while it was a shock to learn about Elizabeth Ford and it definitely makes things more difficult, it will never make me love you less or include you less in my life. This doesn’t change our relationship at all. It just changes how we handle family events.” Peter gave her a smile. “And I’m _ really _ glad I don’t have to weather through any more of Alan Mitchell’s long stares. Your father scares me for a different reason now, but I’m glad your psychiatrist dad isn’t around to judge me anymore.”

“Oh you would’ve hated Jimmy Ford though. He would’ve threatened to take out your kneecaps if you hurt me. Trust me, you wanted Alan Mitchell.” El gave him a small smile.

“Oh, is it bad if I wanted the loan shark more?” Peter joked. They both laughed. “That’s how much I didn’t like Alan Mitchell.”

“My father wanted you to _ hate _ Alan Mitchell.” El laughed. “He LOVED messing with you. Do you remember that sweater my mom ‘made’ you?”

“Right, that wasn’t your mom!”

“He found that sweater at a flea market and just had to give it to you as a present.” El giggled. “I didn’t find out until way after.”

“So you just let me wear that sweater like a moron?” Peter smiled at her.

“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey hon, that’s not my real mom and she didn’t knit that sweater. My dad just found that at a flea market and gave it to you to mess with you’?”

“I would have liked a little heads up.” Peter said. El continued to giggle and he leaned in and kissed her. Then he leaned back and pressed his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. “I’m sorry your dad’s dead and I’m sorry my job makes our relationship with your brother so difficult. But you know I have to arrest him the next time I see him. As long as he’s a wanted fugitive, I need to do my job.”

El looked into his eyes. “I know. I can only ask you to not arrest him, but I know you have to. I want to try to find a loophole so I can see him again though. He is still my brother. And the last family I have left.”

“We’ll find a way to make it work.” Peter put his hand on El’s cheek and smiled at her. She smiled back.

* * *

Nate stared out of the plane window as New York passed below them. Next to him, Sophie closed the magazine she was reading and turned to him.

“We’ll find a way to come back. We’ve taken down the government of a small country, I think we can get you to see your sister again.” She said with a smirk.

Nate’s eyes didn’t leave the window. “Yeah, I know. I’m working on it.”

Sophie picked her magazine back up and started flipping through it again. “Always working. I think a little vacation is going to be good for you.” When Nate said nothing, she continued. “I did like her though. It would be nice to have some proper family holidays with them. Of course, Parker can’t be decorating the Christmas tree with stolen gems, but we can find a happy medium.”

“And I really liked Peter. I think Sam would’ve liked him.” Nate said. Sophie put the magazine down and put her hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry you two didn’t get the time together that you should’ve. I really think you all could’ve had a great relationship.”

“Yeah, but it was Liz’s choice. And look where we are right now: running away because Peter discovered my criminal record. Could you imagine if Peter had tried to arrest me at a Thanksgiving instead? We missed out on a lot, but I’m pretty sure I missed out on some prison time too.” Nate turned his gaze from the window to Sophie. New York was no longer visible below.

“We’ll be back. I have no doubt you’ll find a way to see Liz again.” She gave him a small smile. Nate gave one back.

“Yeah, we will.” He replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically the end of the story, but there is an epilogue! So it's not done yet!


	19. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is: the end. I want to thank you all for following me through this journey! This is honestly one of my favorite fanfictions that I've written. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did and are satisfied with how I chose to end it! Now onto the last chapter! The epilogue!

~One Year Later, Thanksgiving~

El checked the turkey in the oven while Mozzie sat at the island nearby, a glass of wine in his hand. Neal and Peter were at the dining room table, Neal with wine and Peter with a beer. They were having casual conversation while Peter kept glancing at the football game.

“Well turkey only has about another half hour.” El said, removing her oven mitts and picking up her own glass of wine.

“And it smells delicious as always, Mrs. Suit.” Mozzie said.

“Thanks Moz.”

At a knock at the door, they paused.

“Were you expecting someone, hon?” El asked, looking at Peter.

Peter got up and walked towards the door. “Yeah, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited some people over.”

“_People _ ? Peter, we don’t have enough food for _ multiple _ more people.” El said, following him to the door.

“I know, I told them to bring some food over too.” Peter said.

El sighed and was about to protest more, then Peter opened the door and revealed Nate.

“Nate! Oh my God!” El ran forward and hugged her brother. “What are you doing here?” She pulled back and looked up at him.

“Peter invited us over.”

“Us?” El looked behind Nate to see Sophie, Eliot, Hardison, and Parker, all holding various dishes. She turned to Peter. “Are you sure?”

“It’s all completely legal.” Peter said, motioning with his beer. “Interpol dismissed the charges.”

El turned back to Nate. “Is that true? Can you come over now?”

“100% true. Someone owed me a favor.” Nate said, smiling down at his sister.

“How do you get Interpol to owe you a favor?” El asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You help them get their daughter back.” Sophie said, peeking out from behind Nate. “Can we come in now?”

“Yeah, these dishes are getting heavy.” Hardison said.

“Hey man, stop tilting it like that, you’re gonna make the green bean casserole lopsided!” Eliot said.

Hardison fixed the dish in his hand. “My arms aren’t strong enough to hold something this heavy for this long!”

“Come on in.” El giggled, motioning them inside. Parker handed the pie in her hands over to El as she came inside, but everyone else waited to be directed by El on where to put their dishes.

Mozzie and Neal nodded towards their fellow criminals as they entered. Nate went over and shook Neal’s hand.

“Good to see you again.” Nate said.

“I’m glad it’s under better circumstances.” Neal said back, a smile on his face.

“You guys can put those dishes on the island here.” El walked past them and placed Parker’s pie on the island. Everyone else followed suit. When Sophie placed her dish down, El saw the ring on her finger. “Sophie, are you engaged?” El looked over at Nate. “You should have told me you proposed!”

Nate shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t gotten a chance to call you in a while.”

“It was so romantic. I MUST tell you the story.” Sophie said.

“Yes, you must! Here, I’ll pour you some wine and you can tell me while I finish dinner.” El grabbed a wine glass and poured some from the bottle she had nearby.

“What do you need help with?” Eliot said, placing his homemade cranberry sauce on the island. He pulled an apron out of a bag he had. “I’m usually the one making Thanksgiving dinner, so I’m here to help.”

El smiled at him and started discussing what food she still had left to prepare and finish, while occasionally turning back to Sophie to hear more about Nate’s proposal. Everyone else mingled in the dining room and living room.

“Do you guys want something to drink?” Peter offered.

“Scotch.” Nate said.

Hardison held up a 2 liter bottle of orange soda. “I brought my own.”

Parker shrugged. “I’m good with orange soda.”

Peter nodded and went to grab Nate’s drink. Hardison leaned down and pet Satchmo and Parker turned to Neal.

“So,” she said, “you still on that anklet?”

“Yeah,” Neal hiked up his pant leg to reveal his anklet.

Parker stepped forward and looked at it closer. “I could crack that.”

“But you’re not.” Nate butt in. “Because we’re here just to spend a nice Thanksgiving at my sister’s house, not get chased by the feds again.”

“Yes, and please don’t give Neal any ideas. He doesn’t need them.” Peter added, coming back with a glass of scotch and handing it to Nate.

“I’m sure we could find something less illegal for you to crack.” Mozzie said. He walked over to the dining table.

“Or we could not-” Peter tried to say.

“Oh yeah, like that wall safe in their bedroom!” Parker said. She sat down across from Neal at the table.

Peter turned to El. “She knows about our wall safe?”

“I didn’t show her. But yes, she does.” El said, turning back to a pile of mashed potatoes. Peter turned back to the thieves with a slightly confused and concerned look on his face.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” Mozzie said. “I recommended it to them. You should’ve seen what they had there before. It was an AMSEC with a dial and keypad.”

Parker let out a laugh. “What are they guarding? Costume jewelry?”

“I liked our AMSEC.” Peter mumbled. Nate put a consoling hand on his shoulder.

Parker continued talking to Neal and Mozzie. Hardison went to find some glasses for their orange soda before sitting down next to Parker.

“Help me grab some more chairs?” Peter asked Nate. “I have some more outside.”

“Of course.” Nate said and followed him to the backyard.

* * *

45 minutes later, everyone was sitting down eating Thanksgiving dinner. Peter and Nate had grabbed a spare table that was previously in storage and extra chairs from outside and placed them next to the dining room table to make room for everyone. El put down her fork and turned to her husband next to her.

“So tell me exactly how this happened.” She motioned between Peter and Nate. “Did Nate reach out to you after Interpol dismissed the charges and tell you that he was good to come over now?”

Peter shared a look with Nate then put down his own fork. “Well, I actually contacted Nate.”

“You did?” El said. She raised an eyebrow at him. “How?”

“Well I didn’t start looking for them until I got confirmation that they’d be able to come here without an issue. I’ve been periodically checked Nate’s record since they left, seeing if there was anything I could do on my end to get rid of the charges. Then one day, I checked and all the charges were dropped. Then I started looking.” He paused and took a swig of his beer. “You remember that case with Amelia Clarke that they helped us with?”

“Help? We did all the work.” Parker scoffed not too quietly, shoving mashed potatoes in her mouth afterwards. Peter ignored her. El nodded at Peter.

“Well Amelia had given me a business card that his crew had given her. ‘Leverage Consulting & Associates’. All that was on it was an address in LA.” Peter continued. “So I found the building at that address and saw that there _ was _ a Leverage Consulting & Associates office there four years ago. Until it blew up and there’s been nothing there since.”

“It blew up??” El asked incredulously.

“Yeah, it was a whole thing. We were being chased by IYS and it was the only way to get away.” Nate said. He motioned with his hands as he talked. When El’s shocked look didn’t go away, he added, “No one was hurt though. But we did have to move offices after that.”

“Anyway,” Peter started again, “I was able to get the records of everyone who worked there, which I speculated were all their aliases,” He motioned to the Leverage team around him, “and then I did a search to see if their aliases popped up anywhere else. I got some hits in Boston, which is where I’m assuming they’d moved to, but then nothing after they left New York last year.”

“So how were you able to contact Nate?” El asked. She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Well they’re good at disappearing, I’ll give them that.” Peter said. Hardison said a ‘Thank you’ from down the table. “But I’m good too. Don’t forget that I found Neal on an island in the Atlantic Ocean after one phone call.”

“So you called them?”

“Not exactly.” Peter said. “My trail had gone cold, but I knew that wherever they were, they were still helping people. So I paid attention to any news stories about big CEO’s being taken down or anything where the little guy was helped and justice was served. I tracked a few I thought were them, but it wasn’t until I heard about a Value!More store in Oregon that was abruptly shut down that I knew I’d found them. Then it was only a matter of tracking them back to their base. I tracked aliases, crimes, and anything else I thought would help me find them. And I finally found them in Portland at Bridgeport Brewery. After that, it was only a matter of calling them.”

“And I was surprised to be getting a phone call from Peter, but I had a feeling he’d find us eventually.” Nate added. “And I was glad to hear that he’d seen all Interpol charges were dropped. So we caught up and made plans for the whole crew to come over for Thanksgiving as a surprise.”

El smiled and her eyes drifted from her brother to her husband. “I’m glad you found them. This certainly was a good surprise.” She said and kissed him. Then she turned back to Nate. “But why didn’t you call once the charges were dropped? We could’ve gotten together a lot sooner.”

“I was going to, but first I had to make sure Peter knew the charges were dropped. We didn’t want a repeat of last time. I was going to send a message so Peter knew to check, but I got a little sidetracked with something else.” Nate’s hand rubbed over the ring on Sophie’s finger. “And before I could get back to it, Peter called me. He’s very smart, Liz.”

“Oh I know.” El leaned against her husband and smiled at him. “And I’m glad it all worked out. I was so upset when you had to leave and we had no idea when or if you were going to be able to come back.”

“Yeah, now I can officially take Dad’s place being the one to make Peter uncomfortable.” Nate smirked at Peter.

“And just like that I’m already regretting finding you.” Peter shook his head. He gave a small smile after.

“Well at least Nate can help you with cases. Dad would just stare uncomfortably at you.” El pointed out.

“I can stare.” Nate offered.

“Please don’t.” Peter said quickly. “Your dad’s stares were brutal and I would appreciate it if I never have to go through those again.”

“Well, regardless, the Ford siblings are back together again.” Sophie chimed in, gesturing to Nate and El. “And it looks like things will be a lot closer than they were before. I know I can’t wait for all the family dinners and holidays. Though things will have to be a bit more mild than they usually are for us.” Sophie glanced at the other 3 members of the Leverage crew.

“Me too.” El said. She raised her wine glass. “To our family.”

Everyone else raised their various glasses and repeated after El. The Fords had big smiles on their faces as they took sips from their glasses.


End file.
